António Guterres highlights Timor-Leste’s international influence

On the second day of his official visit to Timor Leste, the Secretary General The UN Secretary-General met on Thursday with Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, to whom he paid tribute for “the sacrifices he made to achieve the independence of his country and his people” – now celebrating 25 years – including his years as a combatant and the years imprisoned in Indonesia, the country that occupied Timor-Leste from 1975 to 1999.

Speaking to reporters at the Government Palace in Dili, António Guterres highlighted the Timor-Leste’s good performance in issues such as democracy and human rightsas well as its “growing influence” at an international level.

Guterres recalled that the Asian nation is Founder of the G7+, a group of fragile states in conflict or post-conflictand said that it will soon join the ASEAN regional bloc.

The UN chief also said he counts on Timor-Leste to support a peace process in Myanmar.

Guterres said he hoped to have the country’s voice heard at the Summit of the Future, to be held in September, in order to build “a world in which the United Nations Charter is respected.”

The Timorese resistance and its women

The UN leader visited the museum of the Timorese resistance, where he saw the permanent exhibition “to resist is to win”. He also observed a replica of a hiding place used by the Timorese guerrillas.

She also attended the exhibition “Women of Timor Leste”, organized by UN Womenwhich portrays the stories of life of resistance veterans and human rights defenders.

There he was accompanied by Hilda da Conceição, who during the years of resistance had the code name Lalo Imin, a combination of her grandmother’s name and an acronym meaning “independence or death, integration never.”

Another of the women present at the exhibition was Maria Domingas “Mikato”, who organised the first East Timor Women’s Congress, held before the 1999 referendum, on which occasion, according to her, she set action objectives to guarantee women’s rights, for example, the 30% participation in political life.

According to UN Women, Timor Leste’s electoral law states that 33% of political party lists must be composed of women, resulting in the fact that, 38% of the seats in the National Parliament are occupied by women highest rate in the Asia-Pacific region.

Like the East Timorese, Palestinians have the right to self-determination and a state.

Later, António Guterres appeared on a television programme hosted by Timorese President José Ramos Hora. Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão was also on the broadcast.

At that forum, Guterres spoke of his role as Prime Minister of Portugal in supporting the independence of Timor Leste. According to him, the factors that made the referendum and the post-referendum peace intervention possible 25 years ago were the “collective affirmation of the people with total determination, which could not fail to triumph“and the fact that there were no fundamental geopolitical divisions at that time of American supremacy.

In addition, the UN leader expressed his frustration over the war in Ukraine, which represents a violation of the UN Charter and international law by a permanent member of the Security Council.

The Secretary-General also cited the war in Gaza as an example of the Security Council’s failure to protect populations affected by conflict. To applause from the audience, Guterres recalled that, As in Timor-Leste, the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination and their own State.

Timor Leste, an example of reconciliation

Prime Minister Gusmão said that during his imprisonment in Indonesia he saw the suffering of prisoners and in contact with them he came to the conclusion that the problem was not the Indonesians but the regime.

President José Ramos Horta stressed how he carried out the Timor-Leste’s reconciliation experience in other conflict contextssuch as Colombia, where at the request of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) helped mediate the release of 15 young men captured by the National Liberation Army in 1997.

He recalled that during the many years of armed struggle There have never been any kidnappings or attacks against civilians in Timor-Leste. Indonesians.

Xanana Gusmão mentioned that many times in the context of the conflict, The guerrillas he commanded provided medical care to Indonesian soldiers wounded, something he himself claimed to have done on two occasions.