East Timor genocide
| East Timor genocide | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor | |
Cemetery in Santa Cruz visited in memory of the victims of the Indonesian Army's brutality | |
| Location | East Timor province, Indonesia[a] |
| Date | Occupation lasted from 1975 to 1999, though much of the killing occurred in the 1970 to 1980s, then insurgent in 1999 |
| Target | East Timorese civilians, Communists. Although overwhelming majority were civilians |
Attack type | Forced disappearance, genocidal massacre, reprisal, scorched earth, enforced starvation, state terrorism, mass rape, internment, torture, Mass execution, mass shootings |
| Deaths | estimate ranges from 60,000 to 308,000[3][4] apr. 80,000 – 200,000 per UN[b] |
| Perpetrators | Government of Indonesia
|
| Motive |
|
| Part of a series on |
| Anti-communism |
|---|
|
The East Timor genocide refers to the campaign of systematic killings, repression and state terrorism carried out by Indonesia's New Order regime between 1975 and 1999, following the invasion and subsequent occupation of the country. Officially framed as a campaign of "pacification" and "anti-communist stabilisation" was in fact a large-scale extermination of the East Timorese people. The campaign included mass killings, forced displacement, starvation, and the destruction of East Timor's social and political fabric. During this period, the Indonesian military operated with total impunity while Australia and the United States provided diplomatic cover and military aid.[7]
A significant body of scholarship and documentation has concluded that these acts constituted genocide. According to the Oxford Bibliographies, "the majority of sources consider the Indonesian killings in East Timor to constitute genocide".[8] Scholars such as Ben Kiernan, who has documented the atrocities in detail, explicitly define the campaign as genocide.[9] Even critics of the term's application, such as Ben Saul and David Lisson, do not deny the scale of atrocities but focus narrowly on legal definitions.[10][11]
Casualty estimates vary, but the Indonesian occupation is believed to have resulted in the deaths of between 60,000 and 308,000 East Timorese, representing a substantial proportion of the entire population. These figures include civilians killed in massacres, those who died from forced famine and disease in Indonesian-controlled camps, and victims of torture and political imprisonment.[12] Resistance fighters and civilians alike were targeted in what can only be described as a coordinated genocidal campaign. East Timor's eventual independence in 2002 came after years of sustained resistance and international exposure, but Indonesia has never been held accountable for the genocide it committed.
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- ^ Bevins, Vincent (2020). The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World. PublicAffairs. p. 213. ISBN 978-1541742406.
When East Timor gained its independence, Suharto claimed he was threatened by communism on his borders.
- ^ https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MelbJIL/2001/18.html?}}
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CAVR Briefwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "East Timor truth commission finds U.S. "political and military support were fundamental to the Indonesian invasion and occupation". nsarchive2.gwu.edu. 24 January 2006. Archived from the original on 24 March 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
- ^ Payaslian, Simon. "20th Century Genocides". Oxford bibliographies. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 16 May 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
- ^ Kiernan, Ben (January 2003). "War, Genocide, and Resistance in East Timor, 1975-99: Comparative Reflections on Cambodia". In Selden, Mark; So, Alvin Y. (eds.). War and State Terrorism: The United States, Japan, and the Asia-Pacific in the Long Twentieth Century. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4175-0350-6. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- ^ Saul, Ben (2001). "Was the Conflict in the East Timor 'Genocide' and Why Does it Matter?" (PDF). Melbourne Journal of International Law. 2 (2): 477–. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 October 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ^ Lisson, David (2007). "Defining National Group in the Genocide Convention: A Case Study of Timor-Leste". Stanford Law Review. 60: 1459.
- ^ Sidell, Scott (1981). "The United States and genocide in East Timor". Journal of Contemporary Asia. 11 (1): 44–61. doi:10.1080/00472338185390041.