ETAN/Canada statement at 1992 UN Decolonization committee

In 1992, the East Timor Alert Network was represented at the UN Decolonization Committee by Li-lien Gibbons, whose brother Kamal Bamadhaj was among those killed at the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre.

ETAN/Canada statement at 1994 UN Decolonization Committee meetings

In 1994, the East Timor Alert Network statement to the United Nations Decolonization Committee was delivered by Sharon Scharfe and included a focus on the rights of Timorese women.

 

ETAN/Canada statement at UN Decolonization Committee 1995

The East Timor Alert Network statement at the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization in 1995. Also presenting that year for Parliamentarians for East Timor Canada was Warren Allmand MP.

The 1997 UN Decolonization Committee meetings: presentation by Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta

The 1997 United Nations Decolonization Committee heard from multiple Timorese presenters, including Jose Ramos Horta. Mr Ramos Horta was foreign minister of the 1975 Fretilin government, then the leading Timorese voice in exile, including as overseas spokesperson for CNRM, the National Council of Maubere Resistance. In 1996, he was named co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize along with Timorese Catholic Bishop Crlos Ximenes Belo. The 1997 Decolonization Committee meeting was a major opportunity for him to present from a higher profile than his earlier appearances before the committee. He used it to launch an appeal for increased UN involvement.

 

The 1997 UN Decolonization Committee meetings: UDT presentation by Milena Pires

Also among the petitioners was Milena Pires, speaking on behalf of UDT, the Timorese Democratic Union. UDT was one of the major political parties in Portuguese Timor in 1975 and, although dissolved under Indonesian occupation, continued in exile and called for the end of Indonesian military occupation.

The 1997 UN Decolonization Committee meetings: CNRM presentation by Constancio Pinto

Multiple presenters spoke to the Timor item at the 1997 UN Deolonization Committee. Among them was Constancio Pinto, then living in the United States, on behalf of the Timorese resistance coalition CNRM (National Council for Maubere Resistance), founded in 1988. Mr Pinto's presentation follows.

The 1997 UN Decolonization Committee meetings: ETAN/Canada presenation by Isabel Galhos

For many years, a central forum for Timorese activism was the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization. Timor-Leste (East Timor) was listed on the committee's agenda as a Non-Self Governing Territory, under Portuguese rule. After the Indonesian invasion, it remained on the agenda, providing a crucial annual opportunity for Timorese activists and their supporters to speak about self-determination for Timor-Leste at the UN in New York. 

After the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize went to Bishop Carlos Belo and Jose Ramos Horta, the Decolonization committee's annual hearings began to receive more attention. ETAN/Canada had been presenting at the sessions for some years, but along with other groups ramped up its profile at the Decolonization Commitee in 1997. ETAN's presentation was made by Isabel Galhos, then a Timorese refugee (one of three in Canada) living in Ottawa.