Timor-Leste

President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmao, was called to give testimony about the events of 1974-1976 during the National Hearing on the Internal Political Conflict in Timor Leste (74-76).

National Hearing on Children in Conflict. The Hearing heard testimony from witnesses to and victims of human rights abuses relating to children which occurred between 1974 and 1999; including accounts of children forced to torture their parents, children kidnapped and taken away to Indonesia, witnesses to the 1991 Santa Cruz Massacre and more.

Drawing heavily on traditional dispute resolution mechanisms where appropriate, CAVR facilitated 217 reconciliation meetings from the capital Dili to the most remote village in the mountains, dealing mostly with minor crimes committed in 1999.

Liquica, Timor-Leste, the perpetrator of a minor offence is officially accepted back into the community after a Community Reconciliation Process faciliated by CAVR.

Given that perpetrators of serious crimes (such as murder, rape, mass deportation) would be dealt with through the formal justice system, many Timorese were willing to forgive, and accept token reparations from, those in their community who had committed less serious offences such as theft, arson, minor assault or informing on neighbours.

A key form of assistance provided to the CAVR during the public hearings was in the use of new technologies of communication. Here, IT advisor Stephen Malloch helped devise and implement a sound system for the Public Hearings that would provide live sound, radio / tv broadcasting, simultaneous translation, and also record the proceedings (and translations).

National staff were trained in how to
implement the new sound system.

Live audio was fed through computers.