On 15th September 1999 Nirj Deva told the European Parliament:

"As we speak, the UN Security Council has passed a resolution under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter to allow a peacekeeping force under Australian command into East Timor. It is two weeks too late. The UK, US, New Zealand, Canada, Philippines and Thailand have now committed manpower and material to the peacekeeping force. They are too late. China, Russia, South Korea and Malaysia have indicated their commitment to help. They too are too late. The international community has woken up at last. As usual it is, and always will be, giving too little too late.

Since the East Timor referendum, up to 10,000 people have been slaughtered for voting for independence. 300 000, including children, out of a total population of 800,000 have been displaced and made homeless, hiding without shelter, food and sanitation in the jungle.  What surprises me is that the international community and the United Nations never manages to learn, to anticipate from the experiences of Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, and now East Timor.  What is wrong with us?  The international community, time and time again, is called upon to clean up the mess left by brutal tyrants, so-called ethnic cleansers and the genocide of dictators.  Under the Montevideo Convention, we are compelled by international law to recognise these brutal regimes as sovereign independent states.

Perhaps we should now reconsider this definition and encourage an international debate on whether democracies such as ours should give equal recognition, treatment and respectability to régimes throughout the world which refute democracy and the rule of law, human rights and good governance. Surely the time has come now to differentiate, to redefine, to tighten up the criteria as we do now in giving aid. If good governance is a fundamental prerequisite for development aid, why should good governance not also be a fundamental criterion for international recognition, bilateral relations and trade development? The IMF has recognised this recently in Indonesia and it is time that the European Union’s Member States also recognised it.

Situation in East Timor
15th September 1999

Deva (PPE-DE). – Mr President, this is a timely debate. As we speak, the UN Security Council has passed a resolution under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter to allow a peacekeeping force under Australian command into East Timor. It is two weeks too late. The UK, US, New Zealand, Canada, Philippines and Thailand have now committed manpower and material to the peacekeeping force. They are too late. China, Russia, South Korea and Malaysia have indicated their commitment to help. They too are too late. The international community has woken up at last. As usual it is, and always will be, giving too little too late.

Since the East Timor referendum, up to 10 000 people have been slaughtered for voting for independence. 300 000, including children, out of a total population of 800 000 have been displaced and made homeless, hiding without shelter, food and sanitation in the jungle. What surprises me is that the international community and the United Nations never manages to learn, to anticipate from the experiences of Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, and now East Timor. What is wrong with us? The international community, time and time again, is called upon to clean up the mess left by brutal tyrants, so-called ethnic cleansers and the genocide of dictators. Under the Montevideo Convention, we are compelled by international law to recognise these brutal regimes as sovereign independent states. Perhaps we should now reconsider this definition and encourage an international debate on whether democracy such as ours should give equal recognition, treatment and respectability to regimes throughout the world which refute democracy and the rule of law, human rights and good governance. Surely the time has come now to differentiate, to redefine, to tighten up the criteria as we do now in giving aid. If good governance is a fundamental prerequisite for development aid, why should good governance not also be a fundamental criterion for international recognition, bilateral relations and trade development? The IMF has recognised this recently in Indonesia and it is time that the European Union’s Member States also recognised it.