BB-041 / Genocide
East Timor Genocide
The Act
Following Indonesia’s invasion, military forces and local militias killed an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 East Timorese—roughly a quarter of the population—through massacres, forced displacement, and starvation. The Santa Cruz cemetery massacre of 1991 was one of the better-documented incidents.
The Response
International pressure and a UN-supervised referendum led to Indonesian withdrawal in 1999. An Indonesian-Timorese truth commission and limited prosecutions followed. Indonesia has not fully acknowledged the scale of the killings.