COMMISSIONERS OF INDEPENDENT SPECIAL COMMISSION FOR INQUIRY FOR TIMOR-LESTE COMMENCE FIRST VISIT

4 August 2006


The three Commissioners of the Independent Special Commission of Inquiry for Timor-Leste, Mr. Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro (Brazil) , Ms. Zelda Holtzman (South Africa) and Mr. Ralph Zacklin (United Kingdom) arrived today in Dili, Timor-Leste for their first visit. They will stay in Timor-Leste until 12 August.

The Commission of Inquiry is an independent and impartial body mandated by the Secretary-General to: establish the facts and circumstances relevant to the incidents on 28-29 April, 23-25 May and other related events or issues which contributed to the crisis; clarify responsibility for the above-mentioned events; recommend measures to ensure accountability, taking into account the existing legal and judicial mechanisms in Timor-Leste, for crimes and serious violations of human rights allegedly committed during the period. Following the request of the Government of Timor-Leste to the Secretary-General, the High-Commissioner for Human Rights was tasked with establishing the Commission on 12 June 2006. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights deployed the first batch of the secretariat on 7 July 2006.

During their first visit, the Commissioners will meet with the secretariat of the Commission of Inquiry, based in Dili, to receive information on the progress of its investigation and direct it for further investigation, as well as to meet with Government officials, diplomatic community, representatives from UNOTIL and UN Agencies, civil society and other relevant institutions and groups. They will convene in Timor-Leste for the second time in September 2006.

The report will be submitted by 7 October 2006 through the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to the Secretary-General and the National Parliament of Timor-Leste.

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For use of the information media; not an official record