East Timor genocide
| East Timor genocide | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor | |
Cemetery in Santa Cruz visited in memory of the victims of the Indonesian Army's brutality | |
| Location | East Timor province, Indonesia |
| Date | Occupation lasted from 1975 to 1999, though most of the killing occurred in the 1970s and 1980s |
| Target | Overwhelming majority were East Timorese civilians |
Attack type | Forced disappearance, genocidal massacre, reprisal, scorched earth, enforced starvation, state terrorism, mass rape, internment, torture, mass execution, mass shootings, democide |
| Deaths | estimate ranges from 60,000 to 308,000 apr. 90,800 and 202,600 per UN |
| Perpetrators | Government of Indonesia
|
| Motive | |
| Part of a series on |
| Anti-communism |
|---|
The East Timor genocide refers to the campaign of systematic killings, repression and state terrorism against the East Timorese people by Indonesia's New Order regime between 1975 and 1999, during the invasion and subsequent occupation of East Timor.
The Indonesian military framed their counter-insurgency operations as "pacification" and "anti-communist stabilisation" while operating with total impunity and engaging in a large-scale extermination of the East Timor's population, including mass killings, forced displacement, starvation, and the destruction of East Timor's social and political fabric. During the occupation period, the Indonesian government received diplomatic and military support from Australia and the United States.
A significant body of scholarship has concluded that Indonesia perpetrated genocide in East Timor. According to the Oxford Bibliographies, "the majority of sources consider the Indonesian killings in East Timor to constitute genocide". Many scholars, including Ben Kiernan, who has documented the atrocities in detail, define the campaign as genocide. Other scholars, such as Ben Saul and David Lisson, disagree with using the term to describe the campaign but do not deny the scale of atrocities committed.
Between 60,000 and 308,000 East Timorese died as a result of Indonesia's occupation, representing a substantial proportion of East Timor's population. Victims included civilians killed in massacres, from forced famine and disease in Indonesian-controlled camps, and from torture and political imprisonment. Timorese resistance fighters and civilians alike were targeted in a coordinated genocidal campaign. East Timor's eventual independence in 2002 came after years of sustained resistance and international exposure, but Indonesia has never been held accountable for the genocide it committed.