East Timor and the International Community

The long-running dispute over East Timor was for many years an unresolved item on the agenda of the international community. It involved issues of self-determination, non-recognition, and human rights. This book was first published in 1997, five years before East Timor regained its independence. It thus serves as a record of the basic materials relating to the historical background, to the circumstances of the Indonesian invasion and following incorporation of East Timor, to the subsequent development of the dispute in the light of the international community's response to it, and, finally, to the 1995 judgment of the International Court of Justice in the case concerning East Timor between Portugal and Australia. The volume contains a substantive introduction which places the documents in context and provides an overview of the political and legal issues of the dispute.