17 March 2013

More executive evictions as civil society appeals to Parliament to discuss land law in Timor-Leste

ETLJB  17/03/2013 - The police and Dili District security officers have forcibly evicted a family from land in respect of which the State has asserted ownership. The land is located in Delta, Comoro in the country's capital city which the State has leased to the Timor Plaza investor. The eviction was executed on Wednesday, 13 March.

According to an English translation of a report published in Suara Timor Lorosae on 14 March, the family had been ordered to move from the land three times but had refused to leave and the occupation of the land was impeding the construction of a building in front of Timor Plaza.

Meanwhile, the director of the human rights civil society organisation, HAK, has appealed to the National Parilament to discuss the land law that was drafted during the term of office of the now-convicted former Justice Minister Lucaia Lobato and which the then-President, Ramos Horta vetoed on the grounds that it was not a fair and just law.


 Radio Timor Leste broadcast a report on 13 March citing HAK's director, Rogerio Viegas, as saying that the National Parliament had power to hold a meeting with civil society organisations to discuss the land law before being approved by the Parliament.

“Land dispute issues always happen in our country; therefore the Parliament should commit to discuss the land law shortly,” Viegas said. Sources: Radio Timor-Leste 13/03/2013;Suara Timor Lorosae 14/03/2013. Edited by Warren L. Wright

Related posts
Land disputes a continuing cause of violence in Timor-Leste
Murder in East Timor the result of land dispute
Violence flares as police beat protestors over land dispute
Land dispute triggers more violence in Timor-Leste 
Massacre leaving 5 dead the result of a land dispute   Still no land title certainty a decade after independence Timor Leste Land Network asks Hilary Clinton ‘not to abandon the people’s land rights’ and criticises USAID-funded land program The East Timor Land Law Program: Four Years On - Still No Land Law 


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