** DOWNLOAD LATEST REPORT** September 2009: Timor-Leste - Voices and Paths to Peace. An Executive Summary of the findings from the nationwide consultations and the national forum on the obstacles to peace. Click here.    

Background

One of the world’s newest countries
Timor-Leste is the second youngest nation state (behind Kosovo) and among the poorest in Asia, with a turbulent past of colonial domination, foreign occupation and violent conflict.

Today, as the Timorese build their new country, they face deep divisions in their society, as well as many challenges and hurdles but the solutions sit within society itself and must be locally owned. The programme is tasked with helping society to draw on its own resources to address the main obstacles to lasting peace.

The violent path to independence in 2002
Timor-Leste gained independence in 2002 after two and a half years under the mandate of the United Nations. This followed 425 years of Portuguese colonial rule. The Portuguese effectively abandoned the country in 1975 and nine days after their departure the Indonesians invaded and occupied the country for 24 years.
The long struggle towards independence has left a legacy of bloodshed, violence and deep mistrust between and within groups but most significantly with the Timorese people and their authorities.
 

Major toll on human lives
While the exact number of casualties remains uncertain, the final report of the Timor-Leste Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) released in 2006, reports that an upper estimate of 183 000 died during the conflict period.
Seen in context of the total original population base at the time of just 650 000 people, the death toll represents over a quarter of the country’s population. Locally the number of casualties and deaths are estimated to be even higher at over 200 000.

Violent confrontations continue after independence
In the first half of 2006, simmering tensions between the military and the police as well as internally, brought long-standing rifts within Timorese society to the surface and resulted in violent confrontations between “youth gangs/martial arts groups”. Houses and properties were looted and burned, and more than 30 people died including 10 unarmed members of the national police. Upwards of 160,000 people fled to rural districts or moved into camps for internally displaced people in and around Dili. A state of emergency was declared and international forces were called in to restore some semblance of peace, and the UN Security Council renewed a mandate for the UN Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT).

2007 Elections triggered more violence
The recent Presidential and Parliamentary elections in the summer of 2007 resulted in more turbulent times as supporters of Fretilin, the former ruling party, protested the decision of newly elected President Jose Ramos Horta to appoint former President Xanana Gusmao, the leader of a coalition of minority parties, as Prime Minister.
Violence was widespread in the districts of Baucau and Viqueque with many houses burned and people fleeing to the mountains. In Dili, the customs offices were burnt to the ground and Government and UN vehicles stoned and set alight.

2008 shooting of the President
The 11th February there was an attempted assassination of the President  – illustrating just how fragile peace really is.

Peace remains fragile
Against this backdrop of violence, a fragile peace exists – although tensions are never far from the surface and violence continues to break out jeopardizing the country’s future.

Conditions for peace remain challenging
Extreme poverty - Timor-Leste remains extremely poor. With a per capita GDP of approximately US$ 460, this is less than half the level of other countries in the Asia and Pacific region. The daily reality is that over 40% of its population lives below the poverty line of US$1 a day.

Young people make up the majority of the population - The latest statistics indicate that 60% of the country is under the age of 18 (roughly 75% under 25) and that 75% of young men are members of organized youth gangs or ‘martial arts clubs’ so often implicated in political violence in Timor. Young people are extremely frustrated by the lack of economic opportunity and the rampant corruption, divisionism and nepotism that they believe is keeping them down. They also feel manipulated by the political elite into becoming their instruments of violence.

Unemployment - Unemployment is exceptionally high, with rates exceeding 40% in the major urban areas of Dili and Baucau. This, combined with widespread poverty and deteriorating living conditions, have heightened the frustration and resentment across all of the country over unmet expectations of the development progress that would follow independence.

Vulnerability - Several parts of the country suffer from irregular supply and frequent shortages of goods due to low productivity and poor distribution, and as a result suffer from a lack of food security. Persistent drought and periodic natural disasters add to the severe poverty and exacerbate an already existing sense of vulnerability.

Timor-Leste is struggling to deal with the multiple challenges it faces as it confronts both its recent past, the situation today and its future.