§ 2.57 p.m.
§ Baroness Walmsley asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ What steps they are taking to bring to justice the killers of two British journalists, Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters, as well as two Australian journalists and a New Zealand journalist, at Balibo in East Timor in 1975.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal)My Lords, we have regularly raised with the Indonesian Government the matter of the deaths of the British journalists at Balibo in East Timor in 1975. We welcome the decision by the UN administration in East Timor to reopen the investigation into this case.
§ Baroness WalmsleyMy Lords, I thank the Minister for her Answer. Naturally I welcome the recent United Nations initiatives and wish them well. However, will the Minister accept that it has simply not been good enough for successive British governments to have left the investigation of the murder of two British citizens to the Australian Government for the past 25 years—a government which many recent revelations from many sources show was implicated in this atrocity through the negligence of some of its officials? Is the Minister therefore able to assure the House that Her Majesty's Government will take a more proactive role and leave no stone unturned until the murderers of the two British journalists and many others in East Timor are brought to justice?
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, I say straight away that of course I acknowledge the concern that the noble Baroness expresses in relation to this matter and join with her in that. However, successive British governments have been involved in this issue although they have not taken the primary role. There were no plans for a British inquiry because the five journalists killed were all based in Australia and worked for the Australian TV station. For that reason it was the Australian Government which led on this issue. It commissioned the comprehensive investigation by a former solicitor general, Tom Sherman, in 1995 and this remains the bench-mark. I should reassure the House that there was no reason to suppose that that investigation was not carried out vigorously and fully. We were kept informed about it; and it is a matter which we were content to accept.
1365 It is obviously important that the matter is being considered now. More information may have come to light. We are very keen indeed that the investigations should be full, frank and searching.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, it is clear that documents were available to the Australian foreign ministry which were not disclosed to the Sherman inquiry. How do we know that similar documents are not in the possession of the Foreign Office? Will the Minister give an undertaking that whatever documents the Foreign Office may have will not be withheld because of the 30-year rule but made available to any inquiry undertaken by the authorities in East Timor?
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, I can assure your Lordships that all documents which can properly be disclosed will be disclosed in accordance with the normal rules. But no noble Lord should be left in any doubt that Her Majesty's Government are very keen indeed for the perpetrators of these heinous offences to be found and that we have every hope and aspiration that all of those involved in this process have a similar good intent.
§ Lord ReaMy Lords, since we have a little Question Time available, perhaps I may ask the Minister a slightly peripheral question. Can my noble friend report on the current situation of the forced refugees of East Timorese who are now in West Timor, in particular after the United Nations group which was looking after them was withdrawn when some of its members were killed? Is there any chance of that team returning to West Timor?
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, this issue is not only peripheral, it is very wide of the Question.
However, it is right to say that we were appalled by the brutal murder of the UNHCR staff on 6th September. We have consistently pressed the Indonesian Government to comply with the terms of UN Security Resolution 1319, to disarm and disband the militia in West Timor and to arrest those responsible for the murders. We are encouraging the UN Security Council mission. It will visit East Timor, West Timor and Indonesia from 9th to 18th November. It will look at the progress in compliance with Resolution 1319 and at encouraging the Indonesians to bring those responsible for the murders to account. Six suspects are currently in detention.
Although I have answered that question, I hope that it will not be an incitement to any other noble Lord to ask questions which are far wide of the Question on the Order Paper.
§ Lord RedesdaleMy Lords, the Minister used the word "properly". Can the noble Baroness say who will decide on the propriety of disclosure of documents?
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, the Foreign Office decides on the propriety.