The East Timor Committee - a presentation

The invasion of East Timor 1975 was the impetus to establish the East Timor Committee (Östtimorkommittén). After the referendum on the 30:th of August 1999 the UN through a transitional administration administered the territory until full independence was declared on the 20:th of May 2002.

What we want

The committee works

to disseminate knowledge about East Timor, its people and culture
to support the political, economical and cultural development of East Timor
to make the Swedish government

support East Timor politically, economically and culturally both bilaterally and in international fora
closely follow Indonesia's policy towards East Timor and forcefully act against possibly assaults and attempts to destabilise East Timor regardless of the form of these.

What we do

1996-2020 the East Timor Committee publishes together with the Association for a Free Papua (Föreningen för ett Fritt Papua) published a bulletin in Swedish, Merdeka/East Timor Information, approximately four times a year. Up to December 2014 63 printed editions were published. 2015-2020 the bulletin was published here on the Internet. Before publication of Merdeka/East Timor Information we published more than 30 editions of a simpler bulletin.

The committee

supplies speakers to other organisations
supplies information to journalists and other makers of the public opinion such as members of the parliament
maintains a Web site with information and links, http://www.osttimorkommitten.se/.

The East Timor Committee has published seven books:

Öst-Timor - det glömda kriget (East Timor - the forgotten war), Stockholm 1981
Det grymma spelet (The cruel game), Stockholm 1985
Ut ur tystnaden (Out of the silence), Arboga 1990
Östtimor - Avkolonisering med förhinder (East Timor - decolonization prevented), Uppsala 1994 (in co-operation with UFFN)
Östtimors väg till självbestämmande - från fredspris till folkomröstning (East Timor's road to self-determination - from Peace Prize to referendum), Stockholm 2000 (in co-operation with Kristna Fredsrörelsen)
Östtimor - en säkerhetspolitisk analys (East Timor - an analysis on security politics) , Uppsala 2002 (in co-operation with Global Publications Foundation)
East Timor - nation building in the 21st century, Stockholm 2003 (in co-operation with Stockholms Univeristet)

and the brochure

I folkmordets skugga - Kvinnor och barn i Östtimor (In the shadow of genocide - Women and children in East Timor), Stockholm 1995.

The committee produced a part of the exhibition Brottsplats Stilla havet (The site of crime the Pacific Ocean), 1984, and together with Riksutställningar the exhibition Förintelse i Paradiset (Extinction in the Paradise), 1987. Both have been shown among other places in the cultural centre of Stockholm (Kulturhuset). 1991-1992 the committee made the exhibition Timor - min ö (Timor - my island), that easily could be transported and therefore was shown at many different occasions.

The committee has an extensiv archive and library.

The committee is a member of the International Federation for East Timor, IFET, and participates at the meetings of the European solidarity organisations' meetings.

More information

Please feel free to contact us for more information. In addition to the contact points given in the header you can contact Tommy Pollák, phone +46 73 396 4591.

Daily information from East Timor is available from an email list. Read more at http://lists.riseup.net/www/. You may look for a list called east-timor.