Well, usually I do not respond to the messages that go beyond the
mandate of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea,
Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations. However, as a United Nations
staff member from a country which has never "colonized" any territory,
I simply cannot be silent when the international boundaries forum is
used for propagating personal opinions based on total misunderstanding
of the current state of international law and the role of the United
Nations. The misleading logic of the writers message is obvious -
starting from false premises, he twists the reality, mixes the result
with his lack of faith in the value of human life and, after putting
on a few qualifying labels, he comes to the wrong conclusions. I do
not think that the international boundaries forum is a place to enter
into any specific arguments over this message, if the writer is
willing to further discuss his opinions, he is most than welcome to do
it directly through my mailbox.
This being said and for the sake of about 100 of our colleagues,
United Nations staff members, who risked their life to protect a large
group of civilian population, I would invite both the writer and
interested international boundaries readers to visit the UNAMET site:
http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/etimor.htm
and to read the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
on the human rights situation in East Timor and other documents.
In concluding, I would like to remind Mr. Treanor of the purposes of the
United Nations for which we, staff of the Organization, work:
"To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take
effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to
the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches
of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with
the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement
of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the
peace;
"To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the
principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take
other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
"To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of
an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting
and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for
all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
"To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of
these common ends. "
He may need to accept that other people could be guided by those noble
goals.
=====================================================================
Vladimir Jares
Law of the Sea Officer Specialiste du droit de la mer
Division for Ocean Affairs and Division des affaires maritimes
the Law of the Sea et du droit de la mer
Office of Legal Affairs Bureau des affaires juridiques
DC2-0440 DC2-0440
United Nations Nations Unies
New York, NY 10017 New York, NY 10017
phone: (212) 963 3945
fax: (212) 963 5847
email: [log in to unmask]
=====================================================================
______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: Re-colonising Timor is wrong
Author: <[log in to unmask]> at Internet
Date: 20/09/1999 3:45 PM
Once again, a media campaign in western countries is generating public support
for military intervention. East Timor is "the next Kosovo". But the comparison
with Kosovo indicates why an intervention is wrong.
A military intervention would establish a UN protectorate: Kosovo shows what
that means. At first all decisions would be taken by international
organisations. As in Kosovo, they would exercise absolute military power. They
would appoint the courts, the police, any local armed forces. The vast
majority of the population would be excluded from all political process. A
tiny pro-western, English-speaking, elite would be placed in positions of
power - first as translators and assistants, later as founders of the
UN-funded "democratic" political parties. The media would be controlled
entirely by the UN, which would have censorship powers. In Bosnia and Kosovo,
political and cultural life has become dependent on western foundations: in
the Timorese case, the Catholic church would assume that role as well. Those
who opposed the UN protectorate would have no resources to organise that
opposition: they will be politically marginalised.
---
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/koseth.html
Kosovo intervention ethics
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/osce-pristina.html
OSCE controls media in Kosovo
----
Timor intervention is not an ethical duty, as some media claim (the BBC spoke
of a "moral crusade"). There is no moral duty to help those in danger, beyond
the personal level. I can not go to Timor in person to protect anyone,
therefore I have no further obligations. I certainly have no moral obligation
to support the Australian army, or the Portuguese army, or the US army.
Remember that armies kill people: an intervention in Timor with no casualties
is impossible. As in Kosovo, there will almost certainly be revenge attacks -
on the Javanese iimmigrants to Timor. No "obligation to assist" extends so
far, that I have to give political support to a military intervention. There
are good reasons to oppose intervention: in reality it is a *re-colonisation*
of East Timor.
Timor will become a UN protectorate, on a poor Asian island, close to a rich
country with neoliberal economic policies. It will inevitably become a victim
of neoliberalism. The prevention of genocide can not justify neoliberalism.
The best comparison is with Haiti. Thanks to US intervention, the population
live in abject poverty, with no future except as ultra-cheap labour for US
firms. Typical of the conditions on Haiti is, that a main supply of protein is
slaughterhouse waste from the US. Even in Bosnia, the poor were reduced to
scavenging on the waste dumps of US bases. That is how the US treats a white
European population - no wonder the Haitians are treated as human garbage dumps.
That is the future, that the Timorese can expect from an Australian-Portugese
controlled protectorate. All thanks to a combination of media, "left-wing"
activists and intellectuals, military lobbies, and promoters of a neoliberal
Asian-Pacific economy. It would be morally wrong to blackmail Timor's
inhabitants into accepting that, by giving them the choice of "genocide or
neoliberalism", the choice "be colonised or be killed". Reducing a population
to a humiliating dependent status, under conditions of extreme poverty, can
not be described as "help". Colonisation is not "help". Colonialism was wrong,
and is wrong - even if the colonial force prevents violence. The Timor
intervention is unethical. It is morally wrong for any soldier to take part in
such an intervention: soldiers should refuse orders to participate in an
intervention force.
--------
Paul Treanor
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/nuke-jakarta.html
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