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Accommodating Individual Criminal Responsibility and National Reconciliation: The UN Truth Commission for East Timor

Stahn, Carsten
June 4, 2015

Source: (2001) American Journal of International Law. 95: 952-966.

In both the distant past and the near past, the population of East Timor has suffered severe human rights violation. Carsten Stahn sketches the history of those violations at the outset of this paper. The most recent episode occurred in the latter quarter of the twentieth century following Indonesiaxe2x80x99s invasion and occupation of East Timor, especially following a 1999 UN-organized referendum on independence from Indonesia. In 2001 the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) established the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CRTR). The aim was to promote national reconciliation and healing. As Stahn explains, the creation of CRTR fit with the increasing use and refinement of such mechanisms for dealing with past injustices and assisting with transitional nation-building. In this context, Stahn examines the general features of the CRTR and the East Timorese justice and reconciliation model.

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AbstractAsiaPost-Conflict ReconciliationRJ in Schools
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