Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a pervasive global phenomenon, but is oft en a politically sensitive and unacknowledged issue. It has serious consequences for the physical, reproductive, and psychological health and social well-being of individuals. It also refl ects and reinforces inequalities between men and women. SGBV is increasingly regarded as an impediment to the economic and social development of states.

Commentary on the Draft Arms Law in Timor-Leste, by Sarah Parker, 2008. East Timor Law Journal

Accurate data on the incidence and characteristics of violent injuries can be a powerful tool for understanding and responding to armed violence. Record keeping by hospitals, clinics, and other health facilities on the nature of injuries can provide crucial information on who is being injured, how, where, and under what circumstances. Data is essential for gaining a better understanding of the risk factors for victimization among diff erent segments of the population and for the design of interventions to reduce those risks.

The use of arms by private security personnel poses special challenges for Timor-Leste, where government capacity to appropriately regulate, monitor, and enforce weapons possession  laws  remains  in  question.  If  the  Timorese  government does proceed  to  adopt legislation  allowing  private  security  personnel  to  carry  and  use  firearms,  strong  regulations should be carefully considered, such as strict restrictions on carrying and a prohibition on storing guns at home after hours.

Timor-Leste has held six national elections since independence in 1999. Throughout this period the incidence and severity of electoral violence has varied considerably. For example, between May and August 2007 violence escalated during parliamentary elections in spite of a code of conduct committing political parties to nonviolence. Group clashes and widespread destruction of property were accompanied by at least two deaths and more than 100 injuries as well as the uprooting of 7,000 families.

On 11 February 2008 Major Alfredo Reinado and a group of ex-F-FDTL1 soldiers known as the Petitioners, accompanied by allied ex-PNTL2 members, attacked the residence of President Jose Ramos Horta in Dili. The president, returning home from jogging, was shot and seriously wounded; security offi cers killed Reinado and one of his men. Less than two hours later, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão’s motorcade came under fi re from a group led by Petitioner leader Lieutenant Gastão Salsinha.

Six years after independence and two years after the ‘Krize’, the role of small arms in Timor-Leste society has not yet received a thorough accounting. Such weapons have played a decisive role in shaping repressive tactics of the former colonial powers and countermeasures by resistance movements, through to contemporary criminal violence. Today, against a backdrop of weak institutions, lingering tension, and poorly enforced legislation and arms control norms, military and civilian-style arms continue to trigger interpersonal and collective violence.

A little more than a decade after independence and the violence and displacement that accompanied it, Timor-Leste remains a country in transition. While it has stabilized in the post-independence period, the after-effects of the 2006 crisis continue to play an important role in the political debate and security atmosphere in the country. Communal violence remains at times a feature of life in rural areas, and small arms—left over from the pre-independence period and more recently leaked from defence and police forces—sometimes fuel both gang-related and community violence.