wfn.org | Hearings on East Timor

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (164
notes).

Note 164 by UMNS on June 17, 1997 at 16:05 Eastern (2399 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Linda Bloom                             352(10-71B){164}
          New York (212) 870-3803                    June 17, 1997

United Methodists join
in East Timor statement

     NEW YORK (UMNS) -- United Methodists were among the
nongovernmental organizations contributing a joint statement on
self-determination for East Timor to a special United Nations
committee.
     Liberato Bautista, an assistant general secretary with the
United Methodist Board of Church and Society, presented the
statement of the Asia Pacific Center for Justice and Peace during
a July 17 committee session here.
     Both Church and Society and the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries are affiliated with the center.
     Bautista said the committee -- officially known as the United
Nations Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the
Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence
to Colonial Countries and Peoples -- listened to "diplomatic ...
as well as nongovernmental organizations and other parties" on the
issue of the immediate decolonization of East Timor.
     The Asia Pacific Center statement outlined the efforts of its
affiliated church and religious groups toward supporting human
rights and social justice in East Timor. Part of a small island,
East Timor was invaded by neighboring Indonesia in 1975 and has
been occupied by its troops ever since.
     The 1996 United Methodist General Conference, the
denomination's top legislative body, "deplored" the continuing
occupation of East Timor and the abuse of human rights there and
supported self-determination for the East Timorese.
     A high-level National Council of Churches (NCC) delegation is
to visit East Timor and Indonesia in August. A previous delegation
in January 1995 expressed solidarity with the people and churches
there.
     After the presentations and discussion, the U.N. committee
adopted a working paper prepared by the U.N. secretariat,
according to Bautista.
     The paper, in support of decolonization, cites new political
developments in East Timor and reports on continued violations of
human rights and economic and social conditions, he said.
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