Timor-Leste’s civic space is rated as ‘narrowed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor, which is the second-best rating for a country. Fundamental freedoms have generally been respected by the Timorese authorities and the government has created an enabling environment for human rights defenders. Journalists are mostly free to report the news although a few have faced police harassment. Freedom of peaceful assembly is respected, although the law places some unjustified restrictions on protests, and protesters have been detained.
A Pride march was held on 29th June 2024 in Dili to celebrate members of the LGBTQI+ community in Timor-Leste.
In July 2024, fifteen journalists from various media outlets participated in a two-day training session organised by ABC International Development's (ABCID) Storytelling Training in Dili. The workshop equipped journalists with innovative tools for reporting, encouraging them to rethink their storytelling methods.
In August 2024, the UN Secretary General António Guterres visited the country to take part in celebrations to mark 25 years since the country’s vote for independence. The UN chief highlighted Timor-Leste's record in strengthening democracy and human rights, as well as its “growing international influence”.
In recent months, the authorities banned solidarity protests around the Pope’s visit to the country and briefly detained two activists.
Peaceful Assembly
Ban on solidarity protests related to West Papua during Pope’s visit
The government banned all protests in solidarity with West Papua ahead of and during Pope Francis’s visit in September 2024, describing such actions as a threat to national security, apparently under pressure from the Indonesian government.
West Papua is a region under Indonesian rule with a long-running independence movement. In Timor-Leste, activists have organised solidarity protests for the right to self-determination and against human rights abuses in West Papua.
According to activists, these restrictions are unconstitutional because they contradict articles 10 and 40 of the Constitution, on the right to solidarity and the right to freedom of expression. The ban is also inconsistent with the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which Timor-Leste has ratified.
Association
Activists detained around Pope’s visit
🇹🇱TIMOR-LESTE: ‘Restrictions on solidarity protests are unconstitutional’ says activist Nelson Roldão on civi lsociety restritcions in the country
— CIVICUS (@CIVICUSalliance) September 16, 2024
🔗https://t.co/la0kqU5QeV #CIVICUSLens @asia_ajar @Tapol_UK @hurimonitor @FreeWestPapuaNL pic.twitter.com/YN7b8ZbcoV
Human rights activist Nelson Roldão, who has been involved in solidarity actions for West Papua since 2016, was detained on 2nd September 2024.
Roldão went to Nicolau Lobato International Airport to accompany a West Papuan friend who was returning to Indonesia. On his way out, the intelligence officers stopped him because he was carrying a ‘freedom bag’, a sign of solidarity with West Papua. They began to interrogate him and one of the officers suddenly pulled out a gun and pointed it at him. They also kicked him until a border agency commander intervened.
He was then detained at the Border Force office where they went through his bag and found the West Papuan Morning Star independence flag and bag, T-shirts and the banners they had made to protest against home evictions in the capital, Dili, ahead of the Pope’s visit. They accused him of smuggling goods from abroad, of trying to escape and of planning to organise a demonstration as the Pope arrived.
After being detained for two hours at the airport and interrogated by border agents and the intelligence services, he was taken to the office of the Timor-Leste Kaikoli Command, and then to the office of the Criminal Investigation Directorate at the Police Command Centre, where he spent more than two hours, before they released him.
The police confiscated the banners and T-shirts also told him not to wear any symbols of solidarity with West Papua or hold protests around the Pope’s visit.
Despite these, the West Papuan independence flag was seen being displayed during the Pope’s visit.
Nelson Baros, a disabled activist, was arrested today (10/9) in Timor-Leste for displaying a poster in support of West Papua and Palestine independence in front of the Pope. @Pontifex pic.twitter.com/FkNg9RyUpn
— Victor Yeimo (@vyeimo83) September 10, 2024
On 10th September 2024, police arrested physically disabled Nelson Barros Pereira Xavier on a day after Pope Francis arrived in the national capital for a three-day visit.
Xavier was arrested for holding flags of the Vatican and Timor-Leste with writings “Free West Papua” and “Free Palestine” on them at a papal programme in the cathedral in Dili. He was released after a few hours.
Activists organising solidarity protests on West Papua outside the Indonesian embassy in Dili and carrying the Morning Star flag, a symbol of West Papuan independence, have been detained previously.