Timor-Indonesia Standoff: U.N. Panel Calls for New International Tribunal

A U.N. Commission of Experts has recommended that the Security Council push Indonesia to re-open trials of individuals suspected of committing war crimes in the Timor-Leste (East Timor). Indonesia has conducted prosecutions via an ad hoc tribunal, but according to the commission, these prosecutions were little more than sham trials.

I haven’t seen the report which is not available online, but I’m not exactly sure what more the U.N. can really do here. (The article in the Guardian oddly suggests a referral to the International Criminal Court, which wouldn’t have jurisdiction however since most of the alleged crimes took place in 1999). As I noted earlier, Indonesia and Timor-Leste have agreed to create a Truth and Friendship Commission. The UN Commission appears to find that commission problematic. But will the U.N. really intervene to upset the attempt by the two parties to settle their war-related claims? Should it?