§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make a statement on the recent visit of the Foreign Secretary to Jakarta.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Trefgarne)My Lords, my noble friend visited Jakarta from 28th January to 31st January as part of a tour of the five ASEAN countries. He had useful and friendly talks on a wide range of topics of mutual concern with Indonesian leaders, including the President, the Vice-President, and the Foreign Minister.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, I wonder whether the noble Lord can tell the House whether the Foreign Secretary reaffirmed our policy of declining to recognise Indonesian illegal occupation of East Timor, as reaffirmed in the United Nations' resolutions ever since it took place in 1975? Did the Foreign Secretary convey to the Indonesian authorities our concern, indeed horror, about the reports of mass executions in the territory of East Timor last year, and the starvation of the people resulting from the military operations there?
§ Lord TrefgarneMy Lords, as the noble Lord will know, the United Kingdom has abstained on the United Nations' resolutions relating to East Timor since 1976, along with most of our European Community colleagues—in fact all of them except Greece. But on this particular occasion my noble friend drew the attention of the Indonesian Foreign Minister to the public concern felt in this country over persisting reports of deaths, disappearances and indeed want in East Timor. Dr. Mochtar suggested that those concerned about persons reported to have disappeared, for example, should get in touch with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has full access, and which operates a tracing service for missing persons.
§ Lord BrockwayMy Lords, while I welcome that activity by the Foreign Secretary, may I ask the Minister whether the Foreign Secretary protested not only against what was happening in Papua and East Timor but against the persecution involving human rights in Indonesia itself?
§ Lord TrefgarneMy Lords, as I said earlier, my noble friend had wide-ranging discussions about various matters with his Indonesian counterparts, but I was particularly asked about the position in East Timor, and my noble friend used the words that I have described.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the whole House, and the agencies which were operating in East Timor, will be most grateful for the expressions of concern which the Foreign Secretary conveyed to the Indonesian authorities, but will an opportunity also be taken to say to them that if they exclude representatives of the aid agencies, such as Oxfam, and Catholic relief services, then obviously they have something to hide? Will the Foreign Secretary co-operate fully with the investigation by the Australian Senate of the human rights and the condition of the people of Fast Timor which has now been undertaken?
§ Lord TrefgarneMy Lords, the investigation to which the noble Lord has referred had, I think, been going on for quite a long time, and the noble Lord will recall that we had, I believe, an Unstarred Question on this matter a year or so ago. I have not much to add to what I said on that occasion, except to tell your Lordships about the most recent representations which my noble friend made when he was recently in Jakarta.