Home | UNICEF in Action | Highlights | Information Resources | Donations, Greeting Cards & Gifts | Press Centre | Voices of Youth | About UNICEF

Update: 18 October 1999

(This information is available for archival purposes only. It was current as of the date given above, and has been superseded by newer updates.)

East Timor was devastated during violence that followed free elections on 30 August. In those elections, the people of East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia, which has ruled the province since 1975. In the wake of the elections, militias opposed to independence rampaged through East Timor, destroying buildings and forcing more than 250,000 people to flee to neighboring West Timor. Hundreds of thousands more fled into the hills of East Timor, where they remained in hiding from the militias until recent days.

When a Multi National Force entered East Timor in mid-September to help restore order, the militias moved to West Timor, where they have continued to generate an atmosphere of fear and intimidation among the thousands of refugees there. This has made providing relief to the refugee camps difficult -- and sometimes dangerous -- for international relief organisations.

UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy has issued a strong statement on the vital issue of protecting the large number of East Timorese who remain displaced in West Timor.

Last week Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, issued a widely-praised plan to place the administration of East Timor in UN hands for up to three years. There would be a concerted effort to rebuild East Timor and create a basis for its survival as an independent country.

In the midst of a growing realisation that the problems facing East Timor are long term, UNICEF has launched urgently needed humanitarian programmes in both East and West Timor, centred on the health and nutritional needs of thousands of displaced children.

Health Campaigns

On 19 October, UNICEF and partners agencies successfully completed the first phase of a major campaign to immunise children in East Timor against measles. The one-day effort reached approximately 15,000 children under the age of five in the capital of Dili. The campaign will now expand to other towns in East Timor, and also begin to provide vaccinations against other childhood diseases, such as Tetanus.

In West Timor, a similar vaccination campaign has been underway for several days. There, mobile health teams are visiting refugee camps one-by-one, making sure that all children are immunised against measles and are otherwise healthy.

The health campaigns are especially important now that the rainy season has begin for Timor. It is now raining every day in West Timor, where crowded conditions in the refugee camps are contributing to growing health risks. The rain only makes the problem worse. UNICEF is providing plastic sheeting to give shelter to those who do not have it, and is accelerating its immunisation program.

UNICEF continues to provide much needed baby food and other basic relief items in West Timor, as well.

In East Timor, another major health initiative involves the restocking and reopening of local health centres. Almost a dozen community health facilities have already been reopened with support from UNICEF, and more are on the way. These efforts are crucial to re-establishing an independent health care system for the people of East Timor.

Education programs are also getting started, though slowly. The goal is to promote and assist in getting children who return to their homes back to school during November, if possible.

UNICEF's history in the region

UNICEF has worked to help children in both East and West Timor for nearly 20 years. It has continued to maintain a presence in West Timor, based in Kupang, and has opened a new office at Atambua on the East/West Timor border, supported by a staging centre in Darwin, Australia. In Dili, UNICEF has secured temporary offices, staff lodging and storage facilities. The agency's premises were looted and burned in the violence following East Timor's overwhelming vote for independence in early September.

Return to current update

What UNICEF Is Doing | Feature Stories | Press Releases | How You Can Help | Links

Home | UNICEF in Action | Highlights | Information Resources | Donations, Greeting Cards & Gifts | Press Centre | Voices of Youth | About UNICEF