Citizen society and Local Democracy

Transcription

1 Citizen society and Local Democracy Seminar Report Helsinki Committee of 100 in Finland

2 Index I - Opening of the Seminar: Antti Rytövuori (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) II - The Current Situation in East Timor: Armandina Gusmao Amaral (Dadalak) III - Returning to Peace and Legal Institutions: Jukka Kekkonen (a professor of laws in the university of Helsinki) IV - Review of the 3 workshops: 1. Economy Justice Local Culture Parts I-III by Simo Hellsten Part IV by Hanna Niittymäki 2001, 2002 Committee of 100 Committee of 100 in Finland, Veturitori 3, Helsinki, Finland Citizen society and Local Democracy 2

3 I Opening of the Seminar: Antti Rytövuori (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) The seminar was opened by Mr. Antti Rytövuori, the person responsible for the issues of East Timor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Rytövuori presented his view on the dual importance of the East Timor week; On one hand the East Timorese people getting experience on international relations and on western model of society, and on the other hand the Finnish decision makers gain information on the problems in East Timor. As for to the forthcoming election of East Timor s constitutional assembly, Rytövuori saw it probable that it should be postponed from the set date of August the 30th. East Timor s civil society still needs building up. On what Finland can and will do for East Timor in the field of nationbuilding Mr. Rytövuori singled out giving financial support to East Timor. In more detail he defined the support to support for NGO s as they give real value for the money spent. NGO s supported by Finland also cover many sectors in society, such as economical, social, educational sector and human rights. The financial support, to which two million FIM (some USD) is allocated, is administrated by Finnish embassy in Jakarta. Referring to the last time East Timorese people visited Finland in the summer of year 2000, and the criticism to the UN governance, Mr. Rytövuori considered some of the critique of that time still valid. Finland has also allocated funds to UN s capacitybuilding in East Timor, which he describes a process that takes much time. Thus UN presence, Mr. Rytövuori said, is needed also after gaining independence and it should only phase out gradually. Mr. Rytövuori finished opening the seminar by wishing good luck. Citizen society and Local Democracy 3

4 II The Current Situation in East Timor: Armandina Gusmao Amaral (Dadalak) The whole of East Timor in concentrating on the forthcoming election of the constitutional assembly, Ms. Gusmao Amaral said. The elections however may be delayed as the people of East Timor are not yet ready. The reconstruction process has been slow as it had to be started from the scratch. There are still problems with education and healthcare system as well as general construction. Construction process has been slow because of inadequate material support. In education one of the problems is the lack of teachers. Many of the teachers have to come from abroad. There is one university in East Timor, but it has only some departments. Many students have to travel abroad for further studies. Some help has already been promised from other countries, however. Healthcare system suffers from lack facilities as well as lack of educated staff. There is only one hospital and some small clinics. There are no doctors and no medicines available, and no idea on where to get them from. Financing for reconstruction relies on foreign countries and especially on Australia. Local NGO s are working to help small businesses but there are still not enough resources. Reconciliation is important but a difficult process. Reconciliation was tried before the referendum, but after it there has been a strong division between people. This division still remains. High unemployment also produces a big problem for East Timor. We have, Ms. Gusmao Amaral said, come to Finland to find solutions and advice to these problems. There is a problem of what becomes after UNTAET leaves, since the timorisation process has not been as fast as it could be. From Finland is sought especially knowledge and information, as Finland has been successful in dealing it s own business. East Timor should take Finland as an example. As Ms. Kristiina Kouros from Human rights league asked for more detail on the divisions effects on reconciliation process Ms. Gusmao Amaral replied that everybody sees reconciliation and important aspect in building a state and democracy. Still people think that justice must be done. Many independence supporters are in favour of a reconciliation procedure involving court processes while most autonomy are in favour of amnesty. Until now the process has been controlled by those supporting independence. If there were amnesty without trial there would be a danger of vigilance. Citizen society and Local Democracy 4

5 In reply to a question Ms. Gusmao Amaral explained the level of East Timor s media. There are three working radio stations. One of them is owned run by UNTAET, one by the church and one is privately owned. There are two daily papers, one weekly magazine and seven bulletins as well as several NGO papers. There are also three communal radio stations and one UNTAET run television station. Media is working to inform the people through all these mediums of press. There is one printing machine that is in common use by all the papers. There is a lot of shortage in materials. The importance of media in building democracy, nut everything must be done within the possibilities given by the equipment shortage. The possibilities compared to Finnish press are not good. To go round the problem of illiteracy radio is used a lot. The only station that reaches everybody, however, is that of UNTAET. Also many people are so poor that they can t afford own radios. UNTAET radio station, Ms. Gusmao Amaral said, gives broadcast time equally to all parties. The languages used in broadcasting cover Tetun, English, Indonesia and Portugal. The authority in UNTAET radio is in all international hands. To a Hannu Reime s question on the attitude of the autonomists towards independence she replied, that in general the autonomists accept the independence, but there are problems in West Timor. In the camps in West Timor there is fear of retaliation. The very high unemployment in East Timor does not encourage people to return to East Timor either as in the West they have work. On the question of official language CNRT has made a proposition of Portuguese being the official language and Tetun the national language of East Timor. In the language questions there is a contradiction between the young and the old people as the young generation speaks Indonesian but not Portuguese. Ms. Gusmao Amaral told that in the politics the women have had only a marginal role during the Portuguese and the Indonesian rule. East Timorese society is quite patriarchal. After the referendum the women s issue has been acknowledged and it is possible for women to participate in the politics. The women s organisations have been working on these issues. A proposal on having a minimum 30% women in the constitutional assembly was however turned down by the National Council. For the women it is not possible to participate the politics yet in this extent. There are so far two women candidates in the coming elections. Citizen society and Local Democracy 5

6 III Returning to Peace and Legal Institutions: Jukka Kekkonen (a professor of laws in the university of Helsinki) 1. Introduction: bases for examination Mr. Kekkonen examined the title legal history s point of view: what has been the legal institution s (especially the court system) and legislation s importance in resolving severe social conflicts (such as civil wars)? What explains the differences and similarities between the different models of resolution adapted after different conflicts? How different solutions have affected the re-establishment of the peace in the society? What kind of generalisations can be done based on this comparison. I believe, Mr. Kekkonen said, that we can and we should learn more from the history. These questions Mr. Kekkonen analyses in the fourth part of his presentation. Mr. Kekkonen takes a concrete item of examination the resolving of the Finnish (1918) and the Spanish ( ) civil wars. This pair was chosen for comparison for two main reasons. Firstly both civil wars were total conflicts in which the struggle was about the final rule in society. Secondly the number of victims in both the wars reached exceptionally high (up to 1.5% of the population) for the history of western culture. Within the last few decades crises study has been very popular amongst various sciences (comparative politology, historical sociology etc.), which has partially added to the popularity of comparative studies. There has been a change in balance in the studies on crisis resolving - from studying the reasons of the conflict to studying the means of restoring peace. These points of view cannot, of course, be all separate. 2. Misunderstandings concerning crises and the role of justice in them. - All crises are as brutal International comparisons in the numbers of victims show remarkable differences between different civil wars. These kinds of differences are connected especially to the distribution of power. The claim on equality of wars is by it s nature an ideological stand, and an attempt to silence the analytical evaluation of conflicts. - When there war, the laws cease to exist This is partly true, but also during conflicts justice has been dealt in very different ways, and with different Citizen society and Local Democracy 6

7 intensity. Different European states, for example, have treated both their own troops, as well as those of their opponents, by quite different standards. Legalisation of crises management, using legal forms and forming legal institutions reduces violence or is at least a part of the process that has lead to reduction of the level of violence and terror. 3. Experiences of the civil wars in Finland and in Spain The two conflicts are surprisingly parallel. They both had a similar background of late modernisation (shifting from an agricultural society to an industrialising society), paralysing of authorities, emergence of competing centres of power, social background of conflict, number of victims, foreign intervention etc. There are parallerities also in the judicial patterns. Such are an idea of mass processes (all the opponents are tried, not only the leaders), focusing of repression on activists and strong politicalisation of law enforcement (militarisation of law enforcement, new courts of justice, attempts to achieve artificial legitimation for law enforcement etc.) Differences, however, also exist. In Spain the administration of justice was controlled by court-martials and temporary military courts, where as in Finland peace-time criminal law was implemented by special courts. Also, in Spain the financial restrictions and repression were harder. In Finland the repression lasted but a short time, a few years, compared to Spain where it ended only after Francos death in -75. From the two cases a few generalisations can be made: Repression becoming justified leads to reduction of terror and violence When justice in introduced violence is reduced. This is not a causal relationship, however. The heritage of reducing violence lies in the kind of judicial and social structures have existed before. The possibility of all social classes to influence in the reconstruction process is fundamental in restoring peace. It is essential to build trust between different groups, providing that the justice institutions work in a manner they deserve the trust. Changes in international political architecture affect repression. Germanys fall in the First World War paved Finland s way to democracy. International opinion in general makes a difference. In Finland it was taken notice of when foreign powers criticised the conditions in the prison camps. Also in Spain repression was reduced as Hitler s war fortune changed in February Mr. Kekkonen s views after his research are, that it is recommendable to implement a judicial system that is flexible and just. Crimes must not be bypassed but also amnesty must be possible. He finds the Truth Commission in South Africa quite successful. Truth must be sought and not only because of it s importance in itself. If crimes of the past are just forgotten, it will leave open wounds. Citizen society and Local Democracy 7

8 There are no short cuts in finding the truth. From Finland, Mr. Kekkonen said, one could learn of the highest level parliamentary inquiry into the deaths of the civil war. Internationally it was thought to be something Finland could offer as a procedure model for other countries. The committee is totally an inquiry committee, with no rights to implement punishments or retribution. Opening the discussion, Mr. Jouko Hämäläinen claimed, based on a discussion on civil war he had been involved in arranging, that there still exists a division based on the civil war. To this Mr. Kekkonen disagreed partly. There is no such division amongst younger generations. For some time after the civil war, until the 60 s, there were no academic studies on the subject. It was then brought up by some popular authors. The things are now changing as generations change. In Spain, Mr. Kekkonen thinks, there will be much more problems. Mr. Elias Vieira pointed out that there was a short civil war in East Timor before the Indonesian occupation. The occupation, during which there were enormous amounts of victims, however was no civil war and the violence was not spontaneous. Even the violence after the referendum was well planned. Should the militia leaders have amnesty, he asked referring to Kekkonen s view on the importance of an amnesty option. Reluctant to give advice as his examples were of history Mr. Kekkonen thought, that there must be justice and that everybody must go through the judicial process. He minded that there should be relativity so that the leaders take the greatest responsibility. To a question of importance of East Timor s case being a foreign intervention Mr. Kekkonen merely commented that if crimes against humanity were involved, there are more possibilities. Mr. Antti Rytövuori commented, that in Indonesia there is a problem of a state within the state the army being in control. Before that problem is solved the might be little progress. There has been international pressure to force Indonesia to conduct human rights investigations. There are those who are willing to do this, but the army seems to have too much power still. The militia who dared to remain in East Timor were so small, that in Mr. Rytövuori s opinion they should have amnesty. Of those who remain in West-Timor the question is connected to the process in Indonesia and there is a very long way to go. Mr. Venancio Maria asked if in Spain and Finland the processes were only national. For the the cases of South Africa and East Timor are different as East Timor is not alone responsible of what happened. The responsibility lies with the international community. This responsibility is partly a result of UNAMET, which was responsible for the protection of the Timorese at the time of referendum. So how to proceed if Indonesia is not able to conduct a justice process? Citizen society and Local Democracy 8

9 Mr. Kekkonen agreed with the matter of international responsibility. Of the processes in Spain and Finland he said they were traditional victors justice, the winning side conducted the process. Of the ongoing processes he let Mr. Rytövuori answer. An international tribune is not yet a closed option. The recommendations remain, that if Indonesia is not able to process the crimes there will be an international tribune created. This has been a threat to pressure indonesia, and there has been some progress. The process has however been slow and might be but a smokescreen to avoid responsibility and the consequences. It is also feared that founding a tribune might isolate Indonesia from the international community. EU has demanded a move towards democracy in Indonesia. This has been connected to aid programs. If Indonesia would now refuse to process the crimes result would surely be founding an international tribune. The matter is a very difficult one to make decisions of. To Ms. Marika Lohi s question whether there is will to pursue the matter, Mr. Rytövuori replied that it is not a question of will, but there is no vision on how to achieve the right goals. Mr. Tigor Bonar Naipospos continued, that international attitude towards Indonesia has changed since Habibi presented the independence option. There are still man problems inside Indonesia and not yet the means to solve them. Political parties are negotiating with the army in order to gain power. If Wahid is replaced by Megawati the army and muslim hard-liners will have more power. It may be that in time a army controlled tribunal on East Timor will be founded, but the demand must come from the East Timorese. Citizen society and Local Democracy 9

10 IV Review of the 3 workshops 1. ECONOMY Tutor: Marika Lohi, Specialist in Micro Financing Features of the present situation in East Timor During the Indonesian invasion the economy rose but now it is almost in zero level East Timor has the capacity to build its own economy but now it is mainly based on international aid Unemployment rate is very high (no statistics available) Dili is the centre of economics There is Indonesian and Chinese business going on Rural areas are totally lacking all infrastructure Investment rate is very low (foreign and domestic) The growth of economy is about 15% /year, earlier it was almost zero The infrastructure is getting better but is still too much based on foreign workers Examples of possible investment targets oil, gas agricultural products like coffee tourism traditional handicraft and clothing rising restaurant business Problems facing the economic recovery Due to the lack of investment capital the business is not rising Economy is dominated by international investors East Timorese can not afford to pay interests of loans There is not enough education for business and management There is no legislation to regulate the economic life (the foreign companies are taking advantage on the situation) Transportation of products from and to rural areas is difficult or impossible Citizen society and Local Democracy 10

11 Suggestions to help local people to succeed Education for trade and investing for entrepreneurs Banks with low interest rate to help small business to get started Development of micro financing programs The existing companies should create more jobs International agencies should train locals for trade and business rather than just to give material aid After going through the matters mentioned above there was a long discussion trying to find possible solutions to problems in economics. Also the possible role of the Finns was brought up. The main areas of the discussion were oil and gas, currency and micro finance. In micro financing system loans could be given to individuals. The payback should be obligatory so the products or services produced should be profitable. The main problem in East Timor is the almost non-existing market and lack of regulations. For example micro financing could help to vitalise the rural areas. People there have agricultural products but they don t know how to sell them and where since the transportation is really difficult and people in the cities tend to buy cheaper imported products. Micro financing would need a lot more resources both material and human. People need to be empowered to work for themselves. US and Australian dollars, Portuguese peso and rupia are the main currencies at the moment of which rupia is the one that is used by local people in shops etc. UNTAET is trying to withdraw rupia altogether because its weakness US dollar will become the currency of East-Timor if the government to be does not decide otherwise. The change to dollars will not become without problems: People don t understand the value of dollar. Prices might go up because of the dollarisation. The value of dollar will always depend on the decisions of Washington. Gas and oil resources are a difficult topic in East Timor. Australia and UNTAET are totally controlling and running the oil market. There is a lack of local experts to get involved in oil business. So most of the profit goes to Australia. Australia gives some of the profit back to East Timor which can be used in development and that is why the East Timorese settle with this unfair situation of exploitation. Because oil and gas are non-renewable sources of energy East Timor should not concentrate on them alone but develop all possible sectors. UNTAET is also criticised of concentrating too much on the oil business while they should be developing the infrastructure and training the local people in all areas of life. For the people to keep in positive spirit in reviving their country in businesswise and humanwise they should remember the things they have done, not the things they have not achieved! Citizen society and Local Democracy 11

12 2. JUSTICE Tutor: Kristiina Kouros, Secretary General for Finnish League for Human Rights Present situation Indonesian laws apply, UNTAET issue laws Unofficially organised (Gathered by UNTAET) National Council with 34 members (13 of them women) There will be an election in 30th of August for an organ that will make the constitution Before the election people need to be educated, examples for organising education could be taken for instance from some African countries There is no department of law in the University of Dili, there is only about 30 educated lawyers who have had their education in Indonesia or in Portugal About the election The elected organ or committee will have 88 members, 13 representatives from each state and 75 elected The committee will have 3 months time to give a proposal for the constitution Meanwhile the opinions of the people are taken into consideration (hearings will be organised) The elected organ will become a parliament and decide for the presidential election and the communal elections in the future Problems concerning the election People will need a lot more information to be able to take part in the election Media especially radio is a good channel to spread information but many people can not afford even radios Will the new parliament be capable of making the draft for constitution? Many of the candidates are uneducated, none of the lawyers belong to a political party so they will most likely not be elected for the committee Strategy The committee will need a lot of consultation and technical assistance from abroad Dissemination of information Hearings and other possibilities for the people to give statements while the committee is making the constitution Citizen society and Local Democracy 12

13 Learning from experience Research of drafts International law Advice from Finland: NGO s opinion for example in human rights issues should be heard before drafting a new law The constitution should Promote democracy Respect local cultures and traditions Be a crystallisation of East-Timorian life Include the civil society to take part Protect the rights of minorities and human rights So the biggest challenge to East-Timor is to have an open discussion on the constitution s content, to inform people equally and to mobilise people to vote in order to make as representative organ as possible. The group made a list of possible parties to approach: International NGOs: ICJ, FIDH IPU (Interparliamentary Union) of Finnish Parliament Technical assistance - National Council, Committee of Civil Education KYO - Department for Development Co-operation in Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs There are about 450 international lawyers in East Timor at the moment L. Hannikainen from Finland In the end of the session the Justice group discussed women s situation as a special case. Women have played a big role in the fights for independence. A lot of women became widows, were raped or even killed during the struggle. Women had many roles during the fights some were contact-keepers some collected the weapons or medicines and all took care of the children and the houses at the same time. Now the women feel that their importance have been forgotten in the independence work. They were disappointed that there will not be a certain decided percentage of women in the committee. In 1997 women founded an own organisation FOCUPERS. It has 3 safety houses for widows and one house for victims of violence. FOCUPERS has educational programs and an information publication called Papadobullet. Here is a list of what the women would need most urgently: More job opportunities Changes to earn their living Literacy education programs Therapy for post-traumatic women Education in languages and computer skills Vocational training Buffaloes and simple tools Citizen society and Local Democracy 13

14 3. LOCAL CULTURE Tutor: Jari Kivistö, Multicultural Education Consultant East Timor has gone through tremendous problems especially during the last 24 years. Its culture has been strongly influenced by Portuguese and Indonesian colonialism. People hope that democracy will revive local culture. Special features in East Timorese local culture Tarabandum = customary law, arbitrates the relationships between fellow humans and between humans and the environment Nahebiti = activities within the community social and religious. Disagreements are solved peacefully Uma luli = sacred house where the whole village gathers together to solve problems, chairman is usually the oldest man of the village, meeting point for the inhabitants. Also used as a food storage. Tebe tebe = traditional music Tetum = local language which is understood by 60% of the population. Because of its traditions like Tarabandum and Uma luli East Timorese culture is democratic in nature. That is why our Timorese guests believe that their culture can be used as a vehicle for democratic development. They also hope that in the other hand the becoming democracy will revive local culture. The selection of the official language or languages is an ongoing process. At the moment it seems that Portugal will be the official language. It brings several problems: It is at the moment mainly spoken by a small elite. The temporary government of United Nations UNTAET is favouring English speaking persons. English is also the main international language and would better include East Timor to the global community. In addition to the local language Tetum there is about 35 small languages. Indonesian is understood everywhere and it is still mainly used in schools but for obvious reasons the people reject it. At the moment TV and radio programs can be heard in Tetum, English, Portuguese and Indonesian. The Roman Catholic religion has a very strong role in the country. The priests are highly respected. Church is strongly involved in the rebuilding and developing of the country After discussing the matters mentioned above the local culture -group made a brainstorming practice to recognise the wanted and unwanted outcomes of the development process in East Timor. Everyone in the group wrote down statements about East Timor in the year Then it was decided together that which of the statements would be WANTED AND OBVIOUS, which would be UNWANTED BUT OBVIOUS, which would be WANTED BUT UNOBVIOUS and which would be UNWANTED AND UNOBVIOUS. After this classification the group concentrated in thinking how to promote things that belonged to the Citizen society and Local Democracy 14

15 group WANTED BUT UNOBVIOUS and how to prevent things that belonged to the group UNWANTED BUT OBVIOUS. Main challenges for East Timor Americanisation Wide language selection Unemployment Lack of justice Western dependency Environmental problems even catastrophes Positive possibilities for East Timor Constitution based on local culture Food production self-sufficient Hope of the future in the new teachers Services available for all Incomes from the tourism Strong women participation in parliamentary institutions Citizen society and Local Democracy 15