Cheat-Seeking Missles

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

UN Human Wrongs Commission

In keeping with its sordid and outrageous history, the UN Human Rights Commission is currently chaired by Indonesia.
You can't put Indonesia and human rights in one sentence without adding East Timor, one of the most brutal examples of depraved violations of human rights this side of Sudan. Here's a description of just one aspect of what the Indonesians perpetrated on the people of East Timor in the last 1990s:

[Lyca Therese M Sarenas of the group Asia-Pacific Coalition for Timor] cited the case of a 22-year-old woman who was taken from her home in Ermera on May 15, 1999, beaten and gang-raped by 10 members of the Besi Merah Putih militia and five Indonesian solders, including the commander, Cetuas Lucas.

"The victim told us that the gang of militias and solders put a gun in her mouth while they raped her," said Sarenas. The woman was six months pregnant at the time. The group also met a 34-year-old woman raped by an Indonesian solder in the district of Liquica on May 1. Her 14-year-old daughter witnessed the horrific event, as she was hiding under the bed.

On 28 June, the women's group visited the central area of Liquica, where 8,000 to 10,000 refugees had fled from their nearby villages.

"We were told by refugees there that they are continually intimidated and forced to place Indonesian flags in front of their homes. They also told us that the militia and the Indonesian soldiers drink heavily every night and then look for young girls and women. In the middle of June, a woman was raped in front of her family and her husband was beaten," Sarenas added.

Indonesian view of human rights: East Timor

So, when the Indonesia-chaired UN Human Rights Commission passes a resolution condemning discrimination against Islam in the War on Terror, the need for more John Boltons in the UN becomes evident. (h/t on the resolution: Little Green Footballs)