http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacbeat/stories/s1340430.htm
Last Updated 07/04/2005 FIJI: Indonesia refuses visa to human rights campaigner The Director of Fiji's Human Rights Commission has been refused entry to Indonesia. Dr Shaista Shameem was one of three people named by the United Nations Secretary-General to review the justice process in Indonesia and East Timor. And it was in that capacity that she applied for a visa - a request that has been turned down. Listen | Audio Help Presenter/Interviewer: Bruce Hill Speakers: Imrana Jalal, former Fiji Human Rights Commissioner; Richard Chauvel, Head of Australia Asia Pacific Institute HILL: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced in New York earlier this year that we was appointing a commission of experts to review Timor war crimes prosecutions and asses why a 1999 Security Council resolution to try those accused of war crimes has failed. He named the three experts as Justice Prafullachandra Bhagwati of India, Professor Yozo Yokota of Japan and Shaista Shameem of Fiji. Indonesia won't let them in though, and Dr Richard Chauvel, an expert in Indonesian affairs at Melbourne's Victoria University, says that's not surprising. CHAUVEL: It underlines for us just how sensitive the issue of East Timor's separation and the events that surrounded that remains for Indonesia and for the Indonesian elite and its domestic politics. We've seen in the last few days in Canberra and Sydney just how far President Bambang Yudhoyono has brought Indonesian policy in terms of a rapprochement with the Australian government, and with Australia more generally. But the issue of bringing those responsible for what happened in East Timor in '99 to justice within Indonesia or within an international context is a step beyond that. I don't think the composition of the UN team has got anything to do with it. It may have ramifications for Indonesia's relations with Fiji, but the person could have come from Outer Mongolia, I don't think it would have made any difference. HILL: Imrana Jalal, a former Fiji Human Rights Commissioner and currently human rights advisor at the UN-funded Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team in Suva agrees that Dr Shameem coming from Fiji has nothing to do with Indonesia refusing her a visa. She says in the context of international relations though, such an action will be regarded as serious. JALAL: Rarely do countries deny the office of the High Commissioner the capacity to allow their representatives to move into a country. So it is quite serious in UN terms. Particularly because Indonesia is a member of the United Nations, and it will be seriously frowned upon. I mean, you know the UN doesn't work by reprimanding its members but there are ways that refusal will be used to publicise Indonesia's human rights record. For example, when a country refuses to allow a particular representative of the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to come into the country, the implication is that the reason for the visit in the first place is justifiable. So in a sense the Indonesian government is saying to the international community at large, we have something to be worried about. HILL: Dr Shaista Shameem was refused entry into Indonesia in her capacity as a UN special rapporteur, and not in her capacity as Director of the Fiji Human Rights Commission, but is there any sense in which this is a Pacific issue? JALAL: I'm one people who views Timor-Leste as a Pacific country. I know that geographically that's not correct, but certainly in terms of context, in terms of level of development, in terms of how the people feel about themselves, I regard it as a Pacific Island nation. And there are moves, I understand, for Timor-Leste to enter the Forum group, which is a Pacific Island regional grouping. HILL: Could this impact on diplomatic relations between Fiji and Indonesia? JALAL: Well I wouldn't go so far as to say it would affect relationships, but certainly it would be frowned upon by the Fiji government that one of its citizens is being denied entry into Indonesia. And for all the wrong reasons. The reason it would not have an impact on diplomatic relations is that human rights is not necessarily high on the agenda of any Pacific Island country. Perhaps the Fiji government might be minded to write a letter to the Indonesian government expressing its disappointment that one of its citizens was denied entry into Indonesia, but I don't think it would have any long-term impact, no. < back [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give the gift of life to a sick child. 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