[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 405 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 405

 Commemorating the independence of East Timor and expressing the sense 
 of Congress that the President should establish diplomatic relations 
                            with East Timor.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 14, 2002

   Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Wolf, Mr. 
    Frank, and Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island) submitted the following 
     concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Commemorating the independence of East Timor and expressing the sense 
 of Congress that the President should establish diplomatic relations 
                            with East Timor.

Whereas on May 20, 2002, East Timor will become the first new country of the 
        millennium;
Whereas the perseverance and strength of the East Timorese people in the face of 
        daunting challenges has inspired the people of the United States and 
        around the world;
Whereas in 1974 Portugal acknowledged the right of its colonies, including East 
        Timor, to self-determination, including independence;
Whereas East Timor has been under United Nations administration since October 
        1999 during which time international peacekeeping forces, supplemented 
        by forces of the United States Group for East Timor (USGET), have worked 
        to stabilize East Timor and provide for its national security;
Whereas the people of East Timor exercised their long-sought right of self-
        determination on August 30, 1999, when 98.6 percent of the eligible 
        population voted, and 78.5 percent chose independence in a United 
        Nations-administered popular consultation despite systematic terror and 
        intimidation by the Indonesian military and its militia;
Whereas the East Timorese people again demonstrated their strong commitment to 
        democracy when 91.3 percent of eligible voters peacefully participated 
        in East Timor's first democratic, multiparty election for a Constituent 
        Assembly on August 30, 2001, and when 86.3 percent of those eligible 
        participated in the first presidential election on April 14, 2002;
Whereas East Timor adopted a constitution in March 2002;
Whereas East Timor is emerging from over 400 years of colonial domination and a 
        24-year period of occupation by the Indonesian military;
Whereas, as the people of East Timor move proudly toward independence, many 
        still struggle to recover from the scars of the military occupation and 
        the 1999 scorched-earth campaign that resulted in displacement which, 
        according to the United Nations and other independent reports, exceeded 
        500,000 in number and widespread death, rape, and other mistreatment of 
        women, family separation, and large refugee populations and the 
        destruction of 70 percent of the country's infrastructure;
Whereas efforts are ongoing by East Timorese officials and others to seek 
        justice for the crimes against humanity and war crimes that have been 
        perpetrated in recent years, efforts which include the work of the 
        United Nations Serious Crimes Investigation Unit and the East Timorese 
        Commission for Reception, Truth, and Reconciliation to document and 
        assess responsibility for these crimes;
Whereas recommendations by the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission and 
        the United Nations Security Council to investigate and prosecute senior 
        Indonesian military and civilian officials for their roles in promoting 
        the 1999 anti-independence violence in East Timor have not yet been 
        fully implemented;
Whereas, although the people of East Timor are working toward a plan for 
        vigorous economic growth and development, the Government of East Timor 
        faces a substantial shortfall in its recurrent and development budgets 
        over the first 3 years of independence, and is seeking to fill the gap 
        in full with grants from donor countries;
Whereas a large percentage of the population of East Timor lives below the 
        poverty line with inadequate access to health care and education, the 
        unemployment rate in East Timor is estimated at 80 percent, and the life 
        expectancy in East Timor is only 57 years; and
Whereas Nobel Peace Laureate Carlos Ximenes Belo, Roman Catholic Bishop of Dili, 
        East Timor, has appealed to the international community and the United 
        States for increased economic and development assistance for the 
        fledgling nation: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That--
            (1) Congress--
                    (A) congratulates and honors the courageous people 
                of East Timor and their leaders;
                    (B) welcomes East Timor into the community of 
                nations as a sovereign state and looks forward to 
                working with East Timor as an equal partner;
                    (C) supports United Nations and international 
                efforts to support reconstruction and development in 
                East Timor, and United Nations and international 
                peacekeeping forces to safeguard East Timor's security, 
                including continuing the periodic visits by United 
                States military forces;
                    (D) remains committed to working toward a debt-free 
                start to East Timor and just, sustainable, and secure 
                development programs as well as adequate resources for 
                the judicial system for East Timor for the foreseeable 
                future beyond independence;
                    (E) expresses continued concern over deplorable 
                humanitarian conditions and an environment of 
                intimidation among the East Timorese refugees living in 
                West Timor;
                    (F) strongly supports prompt, safe, voluntary 
                repatriation and reintegration of East Timorese 
                refugees, in particular those East Timorese still held 
                in militia-controlled refugee camps in West Timor, 
                especially reunification of East Timorese children 
                separated from their parents through coercion or force;
                    (G) expresses a commitment to maintaining 
                appropriate restrictions and prohibitions in law on 
                military assistance, training relations, and technical 
                support to the Indonesian Armed Forces; and
                    (H) acknowledges that a United Nations 
                International Commission of Inquiry found in January 
                2000 that justice is ``fundamental for the future 
                social and political stability of East Timor'', and 
                remains deeply concerned about the lack of justice in 
                the region; and
            (2) it is the sense of Congress that the President and the 
        Secretary of State should--
                    (A) immediately extend to East Timor the diplomatic 
                relations afforded to other sovereign nations, 
                including the establishment of an embassy in East 
                Timor;
                    (B) maintain a level of United States assistance 
                for East Timor commensurate with the challenges this 
                new nation faces after independence;
                    (C) work to fund in a generous and responsible way 
                East Timor's financing gap in its recurrent and 
                development budgets, and coordinate with other donors 
                to ensure the budget gap is addressed;
                    (D) focus bilateral assistance for East Timor on 
                the areas of employment creation, job training, rural 
                reconstruction, microenterprise, environmental 
                protection, health care, education, refugee 
                resettlement, reconciliation and conflict resolution, 
                and strengthening the role of women in society;
                    (E) strongly urge the Indonesian Government to step 
                up efforts to disarm and disband all militia, hold them 
                accountable to the rule of law, ensure stability along 
                the border, and promptly reunite East Timorese children 
                separated from their parents through coercion or force; 
                and
                    (F) review thoroughly information from the East 
                Timorese Commission for Reception, Truth, and 
                Reconciliation and use all diplomatic resources at 
                their disposal to ensure that those officials 
                responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes 
                against the East Timorese people are held accountable 
                and that the Indonesian Government fully cooperates 
                with the East Timorese judicial system.
                                 <all>