Timor-Leste (East Timor) Centers
Known Centers based in Timor-Leste (East Timor)
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Human Rights Center, National University of Timor Leste
Year Established: 2019
Short Historical Background
In 2019, the Global Campus of Human Rights, the world’s largest network of universities offering post-graduate training on human rights, was entrusted by the EU-DG DEVCO to lead a new capacity building project: "Development of Human Rights Education and Research at the National University of Timor-Leste." The 23-month project, financed through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and implemented in close coordination with the European Union Delegation in Dili, aims at contributing to the promotion of human rights, democracy and development in Timor-Leste through the establishment of a Human Rights Center within the Faculty of Social Sciences of the National University of Timor Leste (NUTL).
Objectives
The Center, whose creation follows the recommendations of the post-conflict truth and reconciliation commission (CAVR) advocating for the development of human rights curriculums and resources, will engage in training, research activities and international networking, and is envisaged to become a partner within the Global Campus Asia-Pacific regional hub with universities of neighboring and ASEAN countries.
Programs and Activities
The inauguration ceremony of the premises of the Center, which took place in August 2019 as part of the official State celebrations for the twentieth anniversary of the independence referendum, was attended by State and diplomatic delegations and notable figures, including the Peace Nobel Laureate Josè Ramos-Horta. Since then, a new generation of future lecturers, researchers, experts and managers is being forged through three structural "Studies & Training Programmes" for which twenty-seven professors, renown human rights defenders and young graduates were selected. These resource persons will be the protagonists of the mainstreaming of human rights courses within the University curriculum from 2021, contributing to a more just and equitable Timor-Leste.
In the meantime, the Center is also growing as a lively hub for learning, discussing and engaging for most pressing local human rights causes, thanks to weekly public events involving hundreds of youngsters, and thanks to several outreach activities linking to local civil society organizations (CSOs), as well as all key national and international stakeholders, as for instance the Office of the Ombudsperson for Human Rights and Justice, and the United Nations system in Timor-Leste.
Special Concerns
Following a period of in-depth structural consultations with every UNTL Faculty, few thematic are identified as of priority for the future action of the Center, among those are child rights, women’s rights and gender issues, as well as environmental rights.
Other Information
1. Project Brief – about capacity building at UNTL in a nutshell (link)
2. Video-animation – What is “Development of HR Education & Research at UNTL?” (link)
3. Infographic 1 – the project actions, step by step (link)
4. Infographic 2 – the capacity building of human resources, our core business (link)
5. Infographic 3 – the parallel activities of the growing HR Center at UNTL (link)
6. Infographic 4 – the 27 Timorese protagonists of the ‘’Human Rights Studies & Training Programmes’’ (link)
Address
Human Rights Center
Faculty of Social Sciences
National University of Timor Leste
Avenida Balide, Caicoli Campus
Dili, Timor Leste
ph +670 3310045
e-mail: hrc-untl[a]gchumanrights.org
www.gchumanrights.org/hrc-untl
Facebook official page – www.facebook.com/HumanRightsCenter.UNTL
Judicial System Monitoring Programme (JSMP)
Year Established: 2001
Short Historical Background
JSMP was established in April 2001 to monitor the processes of the Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunal in Indonesia and the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in Timor Leste. JSMP very quickly extended court monitoring and judicial system analysis to include the operations of Timor Leste’s District Courts. JSMP also undertakes legislative analysis.
JSMP undertakes extensive outreach work in Dili and through out Timor Leste. Initially the aim was to inform East Timorese people of the decisions of the Ad Hoc Tribunal and Special Panels for Serious Crimes. JSMP’s outreach work has expanded to include human rights training, training of judicial officials and district workshops explaining judicial processes and civil and political rights.
In 2004 JSMP created the Women’s Justice Unit to focus on cases involving women victims of domestic violence as a result of its research on the situation of women in the formal justice sector. In 2005 JSMP has established a Victim’s Support Service, a legal referral and legal aid service for women.
Objectives
JSMP aims to be the foremost independent organization in Timor Leste that contributes to the development and improvement of the justice and legislative system through objective monitoring, analysis, advocacy and training in order to:
1. Support and advance the rule of law and human rights
2. Advance the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession and the administration of justice in full compliance with standards of international law
3. Promote the adoption and implementation of international human rights standards and other legal rules and principles that advance human rights and the rule of law
4. Promote the establishment and enforcement of a legal system which protects individuals and groups against violations of their human rights
5. Promote understanding of and compliance with the rule of law and human rights and provide assistance to those to whom the rule of law and human rights are denied
6. Promote equality and the right of everyone to receive equal and fair access to justice and treatment under the law.
Programs and Activities
1. Legal Research
This program involves 1) trial observation (monitoring of court cases, interviewing judges, court registrars, public defenders, investigators, public prosecutors and other people concerned), 2) judicial system analysis, 3) analysis of pending bills in the National Parliament and those submitted by the government, 4) lobby and advocacy work with the parliament, government, those involved in the judicial system, and the United Nations. It publishes its findings and activities through press releases, Judicial Reports and Thematic Reports.
2. Women's Justice
Monitoring and Reports – JSMP monitors the progress of women-related cases at the District Courts and generates reports on issues found significant. It also monitors and reports on actions of all justice sector actors regarding sexual assault and domestic violence cases.
Training - JSMP provides training on domestic violence guidelines for prosecutors; on formal justice system and domestic violence and sexual assault for members of the police, local government leaders and women’s groups at the districts level.
Public Education Materials – JSMP produces and distributes education materials (include posters, brochures and a radio program and a TV Show) on bringing gender-based violence cases to the formal justice system.
3. Victim Support Service (VSS)
This program is meant to provide information, advice and support to women victims for their empowerment and the improvement of their ability to access the formal justice sector. The VSS hopes to assist in the successful prosecution of cases involving sexual assault and domestic violence and improve the efficiency of the formal justice sector.
4) Outreach Unit
This unit disseminates information to the general public, provides the media with information on human rights and legal issues, and provides training on human rights and the judicial system to members of the Suco Council (village council).
Publications
• Incest in Timor-Leste: An unrecognized crime
• Overview of the Timor-Leste Justice Sector in 2011
• Parliamentary Privilege and Immunity in Timor-Leste: How to ensure equality before the law
• JSMP Institutional Report
• Parliamentary Watch Program Annual Report - Building 151 Together a Strong Democracy for the Future
• Gender Based Violence Manual
• Overview of the Timor-Leste Justice Sector in 2010
• Progress and Challenges of the National Parliament in 2010: Lessons for the Future
• A report on the trial relating to the shooting of President Jose Ramos Horta in 2008 - The 11 February 2008 Case: More Questions than Answers
• Facing the Challenge of Domestic Violence in Timor-Leste, Can the New Law Deliver Results?
• A Report on Legal Protection for Victims of Gender-based Violence - Laws Do Not Yet Deliver Justice
• Strengthening the Capacity of Health Professionals and Lawyers to Understand and Apply the New Penal Code and Domestic Violence Law Using a Human Rights Framework. All JSMP publications, including JSMP’s institutional report for 2011, are available at: www.jsmp.minihub.org
Address
Judicial System Monitoring Programme
Rua Setubal, Kolmera, Dili, Timor-Leste
Postal Address: PO Box 275, Dili, Timor-Leste VIA DARWIN
ph/fax (670) 3323 883
e-mail: info[a]jsmp.minihub.org
www.jsmp.minihub.org
La'o Hamutuk (Instituto ba Analiza no Monitor Desenvolvimento iha Timor-Leste /Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis)
Year Established: 2000
Short Historical Background
La'o Hamutuk (LH) was founded in 2000 in Timor-Leste at the start of its transition to independence after the 24-year Indonesian occupation. LH started as a joint initiative of Timorese civil society leaders and international solidarity activists to address the major influence of international organizations (the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank), aid agencies, multinational oil companies, global commodity trade groups, etc. -- on the new nation.
Today LH is a Timor-Leste organization with international participation that monitors and reports on the activities of international institutions in Timor-Leste as they relate to the physical, economic and social reconstruction and development of the country. LH believes that the people of Timor-Leste must be the ultimate decision-makers in the development process, and that the process should be as democratic and transparent as possible. In this regard, LH provides non-partisan analysis of international activities in Timor-Leste with the goal of facilitating greater levels of effective Timorese knowledge about and participation in the reconstruction and development of their country.
Objectives
La’o Hamutuk’s mission:
1. To monitor, analyze and advocate on Timor-Leste’s development process, including international systems and institutions
2. To promote social justice, including empowering women and other vulnerable groups
3. To facilitate communication and relations between Timorese and international institutions which are actively involved in Timor-Leste.
4. To support the participation of Timorese women and men in the national development process
5. To share information and to educate
6. To promote development alternatives
7. To support struggles for self-determination and human rights around the world.
Programs
LH researches and investigates several broad issues as in the following:
1. Natural resources, especially oil and gas. This includes petroleum dependency, revenue management, regulation of oil companies, environment, transparency, accountability, sustainability and human and community rights.
2. Agriculture and food security, including agriculture policy, land rights, markets, irrigation, farm-to-market transport and other aspects of life in rural areas.
3. Governance, including justice, security, rule of law, human rights, civic education, elections, legislation, state institutions, decentralization and government administration.
4. Economic development, including foreign investment, privatization, globalization and trade, especially in sectors other than petroleum and agriculture.
5. Social services, including health, education, communications, water, electricity and infrastructure.
Activities
1) Research - through analysis of documents, interview with policy-makers and intended beneficiaries, and consultation with experts from around the world.
2) Publishing Bulletin every few months, with reports based on LH's research and other information
3) Maintenance of website and email list
4) Broadcasting weekly radio program "Igualidade"
5) Holding public meetings that bring together panels of decision-makers and civil society
6) Maintenance of a resource center (library) with books, electronic and audio-visual materials
7) Advocacy through the media, organizing coalitions, and direct personal contact
8) Information dissemination to the international and local media.
9) Giving trainings and briefings for state agencies, civil society groups and others
10) Written and oral submissions to Parliament, conferences and other decision-making processes
Publications
• La'o Hamutuk Bulletin (English and Bahasa Indonesia)
• Annual and other special reports
• B ooks
o Sunrise LNG in Timor-Leste: Dreams, Realities and Challenges (English and Indonesian, 2008),
o Tansa Mak Tenke Kuba (Tetum, 2005)
o Kekuasaan, Gender dan Perubahan Social: Memoria Intercambio Nicaragua-Timor Lorosa'e (Indonesian, 2003)
Other Information
Address
La'o Hamutuk
(Instituto ba Analiza no Monitor Desenvolvimento iha Timor-Leste /Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis)
1/1a Rua Mozambique, Farol, Dili, Timor-Leste
P.O. Box 340, Dili, Timor-Leste
mobile: (670) 7234330
ph (670) 3325-013
e-mail: info[a]laohamutuk.org
www.laohamutuk.org
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