LM Report 2004

Timor-Leste

Key developments since May 2003: Timor-Leste acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 7 May 2003 and the treaty entered into force on 1 November 2003. Timor-Leste submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report in June 2004, confirming that it is mine-free and that it possesses no stocks of antipersonnel mines.

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor) acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 7 May 2003 and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 November 2003. The Mine Ban Treaty had been on a priority list of treaties and conventions that the transition government decided the country would adhere to after formally becoming an independent state on 19 May 2002.^[1] In May 2003, a government representative told Landmine Monitor that the government “acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty to give its solidarity to countries suffering the effects of this indiscriminate weapon. It also wanted to join other countries in the common effort to stop use and production of antipersonnel landmines.”^[2]

In February 2004, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Timor-Leste informed Landmine Monitor that the government will consider legislation to implement the treaty domestically “at the appropriate time, especially for the universalization of the treaty.”^[3] Earlier, in May 2003, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative told Landmine Monitor that after the country’s administrative capacity was increased, it would be in a position to establish national implementation measures as required by Article 9.^[4]

Timor-Leste submitted the country’s initial Article 7 transparency report on 22 June 2004.^[5] It had been due on 28 April 2004. The report said Timor-Leste is “studying preventive measures for the implementation of the Convention.”^[6] It confirms that Timor-Leste has no stockpile of antipersonnel mines, even for training purposes, and has no mined areas. It states that Timor-Leste “does not possess, stockpile or produce any APM.”^[7]

Timor-Leste first attended a Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meeting in May 2003, when a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative came to Geneva. Timor-Leste was part of the Bangkok Regional Action Group, which was formed by States Parties from the Asia-Pacific region with the aim of promoting landmine ban initiatives in the region in the lead-up to the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in Bangkok in September 2003. Timor-Leste participated in the Fifth Meeting of States Parties but was not present at the February or June 2004 intersessional meetings. Timor-Leste voted in support of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 58/53 on 8 December 2003, after being absent during the vote on the 2002 pro-mine ban resolution.

Timor-Leste’s Article 7 report states that Portugal, the colonial power, did not possess any antipersonnel mines when it left the country in 1975, and that Timor-Leste’s National Liberation Armed Forces had no mines to use against Indonesian forces subsequently. It further says that Indonesian forces never used antipersonnel mines. “The predominant leaders of the former Timorese guerilla forces, the highest Timorese military authorities, and the Secretary of State for the Defense were peremptory in affirming that both the Timorese and the Indonesian sides did not use any kind of mines during more than 24 years of conflict. UN military observers also reiterated that the presence of any kind of mines in the territory of Timor-Leste was never found or reported. Further, it has been reported that “no mine kind artifact was ever used or stockpiled by the Portuguese before the Indonesian invasion.... Accordingly, this country is free from the danger of antipersonnel landmines.”^[8] While there is no evidence that either side used antipersonnel mines during the conflict from 1975 to 1999, Landmine Monitor has received conflicting reports about mine use by Indonesian forces in the 1970s.^[9]

It was reported in August 2003, following a visit by Timor-Leste’s Prime Minister to Thailand, that the two countries had signed a memorandum on security cooperation under which, among other things, Thailand would help train Timorese personnel in landmine clearance.^[10]

While Timor-Leste is mine-free, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that a “small number” of Timorese nationals have suffered injuries from unexploded ordnance in past years, including in December 2003, when grenades exploded in Same and Aileu districts.^[11]

[1] “East Timor: Dili Approves Gamut of International Treaties, Conventions,” Temas, East Timor, 30 April 2002.
[2] Interview with Joao Freitas de Camara, Legal Affairs and Treaties Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Geneva, 12 May 2003.
[3] Letter to Landmine Monitor (Deborah Morris) from Marciano de Silva, Director of Multilateral Division, and Joao Freitas de Camara, Legal Affairs and Treaties Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, 23 February 2004.
[4] Interview with Joao Freitas de Camara, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 12 May 2003.
[5] The reporting period is given as December 2003 to January 2004.
[6] Article 7 Report, Form A, 22 June 2004.
[7] Article 7 Report, Form E, 22 June 2004. A Timor-Leste official previously told Landmine Monitor that the country has not produced or imported antipersonnel mines and that Portugal, which remained in control of the country until 1975, did not leave any antipersonnel mine stockpiles. Interview with Joao Freitas de Camara, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 12 May 2003.
[8] Article 7 Report, Form I, 22 June 2004.
[9] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 452-453.
[10] “Thailand donates 15,000 US dollars to support women development in East Timor,” Thai News Service (Bangkok), 11 August 2003.
[11] Letter from Marciano de Silva, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 February 2004.