1. For women all over the world the Vienna Declaration brought a sense of hope in its recognition that "the human rights of women and of the girl child are inalienable, integral and indivisible part of Universal Human Rights (and that) the equal status and human rights of women should be integrated into the mainstream of UN system wide activity".

2. We have been very pleased to see that there have been some serious steps taken within the UN to ensure that the rights of women are treated adequately. The appointment of both the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, and the Special Rapporteur on Systematic Rape, Sexual Slavery and Slavery-like practices during war time, including internal conflicts, as well as an increasing gender consideration given by the other thematic rapporteurs in their work are indeed encouraging signs. We also note and welcome the report presented by the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women at the 53rd Session of the Commission on Human Rights and look forward to Ms. Coomaraswamy's report to the 54th Session of the Commission.

3. However, the Transnational Radical Party is concerned that women continue to be excluded from some UN initiated processes, even those which are associated with the offices of the Secretary General himself. I refer in particular to the UN organized intratimorese dialogue, which has a complementary role to the Secretary General auspiced Ministerial Talks between Portugal and Indonesia. It is lamentable that four years after the Vienna Declaration and, more so, after the IV World Conference on Women which resulted in the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, a UN organized initiative has the participation of only one woman out of a total of 29 participants.

4. In essence it appears that the achievements of the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights and the Bejing World Conference on Women have not reached the women of East Timor.

5. The TRP is extremely concerned about the situation of women in East Timor. And although we are pleased to note the increase in the Intra Timorese Dialogue to a total of 35 participants as a consequence of the June - Ninth Round of Talks, we hope however and urge the Office of the Secretary General, as well as the governments of Portugal and Indonesia to ensure that invitations are extended to competent Timorese women, to permit them to participate in their full capacity and not simply as tokenistic additions to a superficial process.

6. The Vienna World Conference clearly stressed "the importance of working towards the elimination of violence against women in public and private life, the elimination of sexual harassment, exploitation and trafficking in women, the elimination of gender bias in the administration of justice and the eradication of any conflicts which may arise between the rights of women and the harmful effects of certain traditional customary practices, cultural prejudices and religious extremism".

7. The Transnational Radical Party wishes to remind the membersof this august body that the exclusion of women from this and any other process can only be conductive to further discrimination against the equal rights of women and will detract the overall respect for human rights.

8. In case of East Timor and given the on going concerns about the situation of human rights in the territory, including those expressed by the Commission on Human Rights at its 53rd Session, through the adoption of resolution (E/CN.4/1997/L.96), the exclusion of women from peace making efforts, represents an important and unbridgeable gap in the process.

9. We also take this opportunity to make reference to the resolutions adopted by the European Parliament in this past May and June about the escalation in Indonesia's use of violence against the East Timorese during the Indonesian General Elections, including the killing of David Alex and the arbitrary imprisonment of hundreds of Timorese. We also make reference to the Conference on the Situation of Women in Occupied Territories held at the European Parliament. The conference included the testimony of an East Timorese woman, Odilia Viktor, currently living in Portugal after seeking asylum in the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

10. Odilia, whose story reflects the experience of many East Timorese women, spoke of her participation in a Timorese women's movement inside East Timor and been forced to seek asylum because of persecution by the Indonesian military. Odilia's sister was raped and forced to have sexual relations with an Indonesian military personnel, to save her father who had been imprisoned without trial because of suspicion that he was supporting the anti Indonesian integration movement.

11. Major Human Rights organization have often denounced that Timorese women were subjected to arbitrary arrests, torture, rape and forced nudity, as well as to "the threat of torture, including rape and other forms of ill-treatment [...] often used by the security forces as a method of intimidation."

Moreover, the Transnational Radical Party would like to draw the attention of this Sub-Commission to the fact that the process of Indonization of East Timor can only proceed if the Maubere people stop to grow.

12. These practices were also pointed out in the UN final publication after the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, September 1995). In the document it is noted that: "The Indonesian authorities continue to use forced birth control methods against Timorese women including the use of implants, injectable and intra-uterine devices. Norplant, a long term hormone contraceptive, inserted into the forearms of women is the most popular device used by the Indonesians. The effects of Norplant can last up to five years and women need access to trained and cooperative health workers to have it removed. The use of this and other contraceptives against Timorese women are likely to have long-term physical as well as psychological effects whose impact may not be felt for some years."

13. It is necessary to reiterate that we recognize that fouryears after the Vienna Conference there have been taken some positive steps to fulfil at least some principles of the Vienna Declaration and Platform of Action, but we are of the opinion that they represent only a limited contribution to the overall human rights situation. This regrettable context is mainly due to the lack of will, amongst governments and the international institutions concerned, of implementation mechanisms.

14. The Transnational Radical Party therefore takes this opportunity to emphasize once again the importance of ensuring the equal participation of women, so that they too may determine and contribute to the free determination of their own future.