Crying without Tears. In Pursuit of Justice and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste: Community Perspectives and Expectations.

Source: (2003) New York and Cape Town: International Center for Transitional Justice. Downloaded 1 November 2005.

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries seeking accountability for mass human rights abuses. Since 2001, the ICTJ has been helping Timor-Leste in this regard. As Piers Pigou observes, Timor-Leste’s journey to independence – from centuries of Portuguese colonialism through more recent years of Indonesian occupation – has been turbulent and traumatic. Under the control of Indonesia many died from repression, violence, disease, and malnutrition. Violence, intimidation, and destruction even persisted before, during, and after the United Nation’s supervised referendum in 1999 that led to independence. Pigou details his research into efforts to uncover past human rights abuses in Timor-Leste and determine accountability for them. This includes an independent Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR), the mandate of which is to foster reconciliation by documenting human rights violations in Timor-Leste between 1974 and 1999, and by developing a community reconciliation process for those who committed less serious crimes.