U.S. Statement at Timor-Leste’s Third Universal Periodic Review
As delivered by Delaney Felker, Human Rights Affairs
January 27th, 2022
The United States welcomes the delegation from Timor-Leste to Geneva.
We recommend that Timor-Leste:
1. Strengthen the prosecutorial efforts of the anticorruption commission, and increase its independence from government control.
2. Work with civil society and local authorities to address gender-based violence, including domestic and sexual violence, and appropriate sufficient funds for the National Police’s Vulnerable Persons Unit; and
3. Refrain from passing new laws that could unduly restrict freedoms of expression or association.
We are encouraged by the approval of anticorruption legislation, but note that the Government has yet to effectively conduct corruption and labor law investigations of politicians. We remain concerned about the prevalence of sexual violence, and delayed investigations or prosecutions of alleged rape and sexual abuse cases. We are also concerned that the draft digital security law could be open to misuse or misinterpretation.
Thank you.