UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 12) To guarantee effective and adequate protection for the implementation of the law against domestic violence, the State, through the Ministry of Social Solidarity has managed to implement programs such as the establishment of a protection network for victims of domestic violence and gender based violence in 13 municipalities, has increased the capacity of the national network of support centers to provide direct assistance to shelters through training on operational procedures, has reintegrated victims in the community after they have left shelters, has provided psycho-social support to victims and public awareness raising and the implementation of operational procedures for the referral networks, management of cases on a database which is based on monitoring activities

Para 20) Timor-Leste also has the following action plans: national action plan on gender based violence and a national action plan for zero hunger and also other draft action plans such as an action plan on women, peace and security and a draft action plan on persons with disabilities.

Para 29) Judicial actors are an important pillar, and before they perform their duties they are given training by the Ministry of Justice through the Judicial Training Centre which provides training to judicial magistrates and public defenders as part of a plan to provide academic competence for the fifth round of Training for judicial magistrates and public defenders, between 2013 and 2015, to increase their knowledge about torture and mistreatment, especially in relation to vulnerable group such as children, women, the poor and persons with disabilities, with materials focusing on the C-RDTL and fundamental rights, the rights of families and minorities, children's rights and gender, with facilitation by UN agencies such as UNICEF and UN Women

Para 39) Timor-Leste has a patriarchal system which is a factor in preventing women from obtaining opportunities, causing them to face discrimination and be victims of domestic violence in their homes. Young women also continue to encounter a range of social problems which affect their social, economic, cultural and political life because women are considered to be of secondary importance in the household and society. To improve this situation, and to enable women to have the chance to obtain equality in all sectors and not face discrimination, many efforts have been initiated including those by the Government of Timor-Leste through the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI) and the Dili Declaration (DD) entitled “Invest in women and children - invest in Equality” which was signed by the National Parliament, the Government, the Church and civil society and witnessed by the President, Prime Minister and President of the National Parliament.

Para 40) As a means of strengthening and disseminating the DD at all levels, the SEPI established a new mechanism to improve the coordination of a Gender Mainstreaming Policy at the national and municipal levels. Also, changes were made to the gender focal points in relation to the gender working group. There is a gender action plan for the 12 municipalities including the Special Administrative Region of Oecusse to implement a commitment known as the municipal commitment to gender equality. The SEPI has changed its name to the Secretary of State for the Support and Socio-Economical Promotion of Women (SEM) based on the organic law of the Sixth Constitutional Government

Para 41) The DD provides comprehensive guidelines to the State of Timor-Leste to achieve the goal of dynamic gender equality to ensure gender mainstreaming in national development plans, to develop gender sensitive budgets, to eradicate violence against women and children with an implementation plan with funds to treat domestic violence issues; to develop a mechanism to promote access to property and land rights, equal access to a higher level of education for women and children, including scholarships in the field of natural resource management; the promotion of health policies that are gender sensitive to prevent HIV/AIDS and to promote family planning and to promote integrated community health services; to invest in women through a policy of decentralization9, and actions to contribute to achieving the aims of CEDAW

Para 42) Amongst all of the efforts that Timor-Leste has pursued for gender equality, Timor-Leste was given the privilege from the UN to lead “the new deal and lead the G7+”, which is the first step and Timor-Leste needs greater efforts to be able to compete with other nations in the world. Now, the SEM and the Secretary of State for Security (SES) are leading a consultation on the NAP Resolution 1325. Two Timorese women received a peace network award at the regional level, the first was in 2011 and the second was in 2013. It is hoped that they can be good role models and provide inspiration to other women for peace in society and the nation to acknowledge their dedication and efforts to build peace. The SEPI revised the strategic plan for 2010-2015 to 2012-2017

Para 43) Timor-Leste guarantees effective and adequate protection through the implementation of the law against domestic violence, and the State, through the MSS, has managed to implement programs such as a protection network for victims of domestic violence and gender based violence in 12 municipalities as well as the Special Administrative Region of Oecusse, and has increased the capacity of the national network of support centers to provide direct assistance to shelters through training based on operational standards, has reintegrated victims in communities after they have left shelters, has supported the psycho-social needs of victim and raised public awareness and implemented operational standards to the referral networks, and has provided case management case through a database based on monitoring activities

Para 44) The State of Timor-Leste is undertaking many efforts in order to combat domestic violence through the Law Against Domestic Violence and a National Action Plan for GBV and the Government will continue to strive to ensure the effectiveness of implementing this law at the national level and international level through multi-sectoral coordination. There has also been public awareness raising through the SEM and a partnership with civil society at the national level as well as in rural areas through a range of measures, such as: Training/Seminars, interaction through Radio Television TL, Community Radio, publishing public opinions in the newspapers, brochures, magazines, pamphlets and billboards

Para 45) After the LADV was approved, many cases of DV have been dealt with in accordance with the applicable law in Timor-Leste and sanctions have been imposed for crimes committed, and therefore there has been a significant change since the law was approved, namely a reduction in the number of DV cases which shows that the citizens in our country, namely women, children and men are starting to know their fundamental rights and that domestic violence is a crime and not a private matter. We have confidence that the judicial actors will continue to pay attention to the seriousness of these cases because all families in Timor-Leste need to foster non-violence or zero tolerance and therefore all families need positive action to participle in national development even though many women are economically dependent on men, so we need to create the conditions and guarantee opportunities to empower them in the domestic and public spheres.

Para 71) In 2015 the Ministry of Education also started to introduce lesson plans for grade 1 to 4 with Social Science lessons also integrated with materials such as gender, disability, respect for diversity and protection for children against violence and abuse.

UN Compilation:
Para 9) CEDAW was also concerned about the decision not to adopt a specific gender equality law

Para 13) The CEDAW welcomed the adoption of the Law against Domestic Violence (No. 7/2010), which criminalized domestic violence, including sexual violence, “even within a marriage”. The Committee was, however, concerned about the absence of legal provisions specifically criminalizing marital rape and qualifying rape as a serious crime

Para 14) The country team noted that a government evaluation of the 2012-2014 National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence had revealed that the budget allocation was limited and that there was insufficient interministerial coordination on implementing and monitoring the Law against Domestic Violence.

Para 30) The CEDAW noted that the Governments of Indonesia and Timor-Leste were working together to establish a survivor healing programme, particularly for survivors of rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence committed during the Indonesian occupation in 1999. The Committee was, however, concerned that survivors of that sexual violence continued to experience social stigma and ostracism, and had limited access to medical, psychological, reproductive and mental health services and treatment

Para 34) The CEDAW welcomed the adoption of the Civil Code (Law No. 10/2011) of 14 September 2011 providing for equal rights of women and men in marriage.

Para 44) The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women welcomed the
adoption of Law No. 7/2011 establishing electoral lists of standing and alternate candidates,
which must include at least one woman in each group of three candidates. It was,
however, concerned that women in Timor-Leste continued to face persistent barriers to gain
access to decision-making positions, and that women’s representation in government decision-making positions remained low at 20 per cent and the proportion of female village chiefs was extremely low at 2 per cent.

Para 47) The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women welcomed the adoption of the Labour Code (Law No. 4/2012) guaranteeing equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and prohibiting verbal, non-verbal and physical sexual harassment

Para 70) The Committee welcomed the zero-tolerance policy initiated by the Ministry of Education in 2011 against malpractice in the education sector, covering sexual violence, corporal punishment and other forms of violence in schools, but it regretted that the policy had not been effectively implemented. It was concerned that the sanctions for sexual harassment and abuse in schools were lenient and that teachers who were perpetrators of sexual violence were merely transferred to other schools

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 2) The PDHJ highlighted that despite that the Constitution adopts the general and customary principles of international law and treaties ratified by Timor-Leste, and that all national legislation must not be in contradiction with international law, Timor-Leste failed to adopt in full the general recommendations of the treaty bodies, in particular those of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Para 24) Joint Submission 1 (JS1) stated that a comprehensive definition of discrimination against women remained absent from the domestic legal framework and the Civil Code contained some discriminatory provisions, for instance, no recognition of religious marriages other than Catholic and de facto relationships. In this connection, JS1 noted that the vast majority of women in Timor-Leste were in de facto unions or had not yet registered their traditional marriage in the absence of a civil registration code, which has consequences for women’s rights to marital property and spousal alimony.

Para 29) Cultural Survival (CS) noted that despite the Law against Domestic Violence and the National Action Plan on Domestic Violence, the Government had failed to implement necessary service and protection for indigenous women and girls. AI expressed similar concern that the Law against Domestic Violence did not adequately meet the standards of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

"National Report:
Para 44) The State of Timor-Leste is undertaking many efforts in order to combat domestic violence through the Law Against Domestic Violence and a National Action Plan for GBV and the Government will continue to strive to ensure the effectiveness of implementing this law at the national level and international level through multi-sectoral coordination. There has also been public awareness raising through the SEM and a partnership with civil society at the national level as well as in rural areas through a range of measures, such as: Training/Seminars, interaction through Radio Television TL, Community Radio, publishing public opinions in the newspapers, brochures, magazines, pamphlets and billboards

Para 45) After the LADV was approved, many cases of DV have been dealt with in accordance with the applicable law in Timor-Leste and sanctions have been imposed for crimes committed, and therefore there has been a significant change since the law was approved, namely a reduction in the number of DV cases which shows that the citizens in our country, namely women, children and men are starting to know their fundamental rights and that domestic violence is a crime and not a private matter. We have confidence that the judicial actors will continue to pay attention to the seriousness of these cases because all families in Timor-Leste need to foster non-violence or zero tolerance and therefore all families need positive action to participle in national development even though many women are economically dependent on men, so we need to create the conditions and guarantee opportunities to empower them in the domestic and public spheres."

National Report:
Para 44) All children born in the territory of Timor-Leste have the right to be registered and it is obligatory to register them free of charge. The MoJ has collaborated with the MoH to create a booklet for pregnant mothers to be filled out from the time the mother becomes pregnant and during her health consultations until the baby is born. The MoJ has also established registration centres in the national hospital and in the municipalities so that babies born in hospital can be immediately registered.
Para 45) In addition to registering children in hospital, those children who have not been registered in hospital or have been born at home can be taken by their parents to be registered at the MoJ through the Directorate General for registry and Notary Services at the national level as well as in the municipalities. The MoJ also conducts a mobile registration program that attends to communities across the entire territory of Timor-Leste, especially remote areas, and this mobile registration program is aimed at registering children aged 0-5. This mobile registration program has been operating since 2017 until now. Para 46) The children of migrants who are born in the territory of Timor-Leste have the same rights as East Timorese to access registration when the child is born, and the registration process for the children of migrants is the same as for East Timorese who are born, and there is no discrimination.

UN Compilation:
Para 15) [The United Nations country team] noted that despite an effort to increase the rate of issuance of birth certificates through advocacy campaigns and capacity-building of service providers, there had been no dramatic increase in the data.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 27) Joint Submission 3 (JS3) stated that there had been an increase in the rate of birth registration of children under 5 years old, but it was still considered low at 60 percent with only 30 percent of those registered in actual possession of birth certificates. There were much fewer children from rural areas that were registered and holding birth certificates than those from the urban areas. These were largely due to gaps caused by lack of national strategy on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, lack of capacity at municipal level for timely birth registration and of necessary equipment to cover all municipalities, and lack of community and parental awareness on the importance of birth registration. Birth registration was free of charge except for late registration after the age of 5. Transportation costs and distance from municipality offices also contributed to the low turn-out.

"National Report: Para 12) To guarantee effective and adequate protection for the implementation of the law against domestic violence, the State, through the Ministry of Social Solidarity has managed to implement programs such as the establishment of a protection network for victims of domestic violence and gender based violence in 13 municipalities, has increased the capacity of the national network of support centers to provide direct assistance to shelters through training on operational procedures, has reintegrated victims in the community after they have left shelters, has provided psycho-social support to victims and public awareness raising and the implementation of operational procedures for the referral networks, management of cases on a database which is based on monitoring activities

Para 20) Timor-Leste also has the following action plans: national action plan on gender based violence and a national action plan for zero hunger and also other draft action plans such as an action plan on women, peace and security and a draft action plan on persons with disabilities.

Para 29) Judicial actors are an important pillar, and before they perform their duties they are given training by the Ministry of Justice through the Judicial Training Centre which provides training to judicial magistrates and public defenders as part of a plan to provide academic competence for the fifth round of Training for judicial magistrates and public defenders, between 2013 and 2015, to increase their knowledge about torture and mistreatment, especially in relation to vulnerable group such as children, women, the poor and persons with disabilities, with materials focusing on the C-RDTL and fundamental rights, the rights of families and minorities, children's rights and gender, with facilitation by UN agencies such as UNICEF and UN Women

Para 39) Timor-Leste has a patriarchal system which is a factor in preventing women from obtaining opportunities, causing them to face discrimination and be victims of domestic violence in their homes. Young women also continue to encounter a range of social problems which affect their social, economic, cultural and political life because women are considered to be of secondary importance in the household and society. To improve this situation, and to enable women to have the chance to obtain equality in all sectors and not face discrimination, many efforts have been initiated including those by the Government of Timor-Leste through the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI) and the Dili Declaration (DD) entitled “Invest in women and children - invest in Equality” which was signed by the National Parliament, the Government, the Church and civil society and witnessed by the President, Prime Minister and President of the National Parliament.

Para 40) As a means of strengthening and disseminating the DD at all levels, the SEPI established a new mechanism to improve the coordination of a Gender Mainstreaming Policy at the national and municipal levels. Also, changes were made to the gender focal points in relation to the gender working group. There is a gender action plan for the 12 municipalities including the Special Administrative Region of Oecusse to implement a commitment known as the municipal commitment to gender equality. The SEPI has changed its name to the Secretary of State for the Support and Socio-Economical Promotion of Women (SEM) based on the organic law of the Sixth Constitutional Government

Para 41) The DD provides comprehensive guidelines to the State of Timor-Leste to achieve the goal of dynamic gender equality to ensure gender mainstreaming in national development plans, to develop gender sensitive budgets, to eradicate violence against women and children with an implementation plan with funds to treat domestic violence issues; to develop a mechanism to promote access to property and land rights, equal access to a higher level of education for women and children, including scholarships in the field of natural resource management; the promotion of health policies that are gender sensitive to prevent HIV/AIDS and to promote family planning and to promote integrated community health services; to invest in women through a policy of decentralization9, and actions to contribute to achieving the aims of CEDAW

Para 42) Amongst all of the efforts that Timor-Leste has pursued for gender equality, Timor-Leste was given the privilege from the UN to lead “the new deal and lead the G7+”, which is the first step and Timor-Leste needs greater efforts to be able to compete with other nations in the world. Now, the SEM and the Secretary of State for Security (SES) are leading a consultation on the NAP Resolution 1325. Two Timorese women received a peace network award at the regional level, the first was in 2011 and the second was in 2013. It is hoped that they can be good role models and provide inspiration to other women for peace in society and the nation to acknowledge their dedication and efforts to build peace. The SEPI revised the strategic plan for 2010-2015 to 2012-2017

Para 43) Timor-Leste guarantees effective and adequate protection through the implementation of the law against domestic violence, and the State, through the MSS, has managed to implement programs such as a protection network for victims of domestic violence and gender based violence in 12 municipalities as well as the Special Administrative Region of Oecusse, and has increased the capacity of the national network of support centers to provide direct assistance to shelters through training based on operational standards, has reintegrated victims in communities after they have left shelters, has supported the psycho-social needs of victim and raised public awareness and implemented operational standards to the referral networks, and has provided case management case through a database based on monitoring activities

Para 44) The State of Timor-Leste is undertaking many efforts in order to combat domestic violence through the Law Against Domestic Violence and a National Action Plan for GBV and the Government will continue to strive to ensure the effectiveness of implementing this law at the national level and international level through multi-sectoral coordination. There has also been public awareness raising through the SEM and a partnership with civil society at the national level as well as in rural areas through a range of measures, such as: Training/Seminars, interaction through Radio Television TL, Community Radio, publishing public opinions in the newspapers, brochures, magazines, pamphlets and billboards

Para 45) After the LADV was approved, many cases of DV have been dealt with in accordance with the applicable law in Timor-Leste and sanctions have been imposed for crimes committed, and therefore there has been a significant change since the law was approved, namely a reduction in the number of DV cases which shows that the citizens in our country, namely women, children and men are starting to know their fundamental rights and that domestic violence is a crime and not a private matter. We have confidence that the judicial actors will continue to pay attention to the seriousness of these cases because all families in Timor-Leste need to foster non-violence or zero tolerance and therefore all families need positive action to participle in national development even though many women are economically dependent on men, so we need to create the conditions and guarantee opportunities to empower them in the domestic and public spheres.

Para 71) In 2015 the Ministry of Education also started to introduce lesson plans for grade 1 to 4 with Social Science lessons also integrated with materials such as gender, disability, respect for diversity and protection for children against violence and abuse.

UN Compilation:
Para 9) CEDAW was also concerned about the decision not to adopt a specific gender equality law

Para 13) The CEDAW welcomed the adoption of the Law against Domestic Violence (No. 7/2010), which criminalized domestic violence, including sexual violence, “even within a marriage”. The Committee was, however, concerned about the absence of legal provisions specifically criminalizing marital rape and qualifying rape as a serious crime

Para 14) The country team noted that a government evaluation of the 2012-2014 National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence had revealed that the budget allocation was limited and that there was insufficient interministerial coordination on implementing and monitoring the Law against Domestic Violence.

Para 30) The CEDAW noted that the Governments of Indonesia and Timor-Leste were working together to establish a survivor healing programme, particularly for survivors of rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence committed during the Indonesian occupation in 1999. The Committee was, however, concerned that survivors of that sexual violence continued to experience social stigma and ostracism, and had limited access to medical, psychological, reproductive and mental health services and treatment

Para 34) The CEDAW welcomed the adoption of the Civil Code (Law No. 10/2011) of 14 September 2011 providing for equal rights of women and men in marriage.

Para 44) The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women welcomed the
adoption of Law No. 7/2011 establishing electoral lists of standing and alternate candidates,
which must include at least one woman in each group of three candidates. It was,
however, concerned that women in Timor-Leste continued to face persistent barriers to gain
access to decision-making positions, and that women’s representation in government decision-making positions remained low at 20 per cent and the proportion of female village chiefs was extremely low at 2 per cent.

Para 47) The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women welcomed the adoption of the Labour Code (Law No. 4/2012) guaranteeing equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and prohibiting verbal, non-verbal and physical sexual harassment

Para 70) The Committee welcomed the zero-tolerance policy initiated by the Ministry of Education in 2011 against malpractice in the education sector, covering sexual violence, corporal punishment and other forms of violence in schools, but it regretted that the policy had not been effectively implemented. It was concerned that the sanctions for sexual harassment and abuse in schools were lenient and that teachers who were perpetrators of sexual violence were merely transferred to other schools

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 2) The PDHJ highlighted that despite that the Constitution adopts the general and customary principles of international law and treaties ratified by Timor-Leste, and that all national legislation must not be in contradiction with international law, Timor-Leste failed to adopt in full the general recommendations of the treaty bodies, in particular those of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Para 24) Joint Submission 1 (JS1) stated that a comprehensive definition of discrimination against women remained absent from the domestic legal framework and the Civil Code contained some discriminatory provisions, for instance, no recognition of religious marriages other than Catholic and de facto relationships. In this connection, JS1 noted that the vast majority of women in Timor-Leste were in de facto unions or had not yet registered their traditional marriage in the absence of a civil registration code, which has consequences for women’s rights to marital property and spousal alimony.

Para 29) Cultural Survival (CS) noted that despite the Law against Domestic Violence and the National Action Plan on Domestic Violence, the Government had failed to implement necessary service and protection for indigenous women and girls. AI expressed similar concern that the Law against Domestic Violence did not adequately meet the standards of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women"

"National Report:
Para 44) The State of Timor-Leste is undertaking many efforts in order to combat domestic violence through the Law Against Domestic Violence and a National Action Plan for GBV and the Government will continue to strive to ensure the effectiveness of implementing this law at the national level and international level through multi-sectoral coordination. There has also been public awareness raising through the SEM and a partnership with civil society at the national level as well as in rural areas through a range of measures, such as: Training/Seminars, interaction through Radio Television TL, Community Radio, publishing public opinions in the newspapers, brochures, magazines, pamphlets and billboards

Para 45) After the LADV was approved, many cases of DV have been dealt with in accordance with the applicable law in Timor-Leste and sanctions have been imposed for crimes committed, and therefore there has been a significant change since the law was approved, namely a reduction in the number of DV cases which shows that the citizens in our country, namely women, children and men are starting to know their fundamental rights and that domestic violence is a crime and not a private matter. We have confidence that the judicial actors will continue to pay attention to the seriousness of these cases because all families in Timor-Leste need to foster non-violence or zero tolerance and therefore all families need positive action to participle in national development even though many women are economically dependent on men, so we need to create the conditions and guarantee opportunities to empower them in the domestic and public spheres.

UN Compilation:
Para 13) The CEDAW welcomed the adoption of the Law against Domestic Violence (No. 7/2010), which criminalized domestic violence, including sexual violence, “even within a marriage”. The Committee was, however, concerned about the absence of legal provisions specifically criminalizing marital rape and qualifying rape as a serious crime

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 29) Cultural Survival (CS) noted that despite the Law against Domestic Violence and the National Action Plan on Domestic Violence, the Government had failed to implement necessary service and protection for indigenous women and girls. AI expressed similar concern that the Law against Domestic Violence did not adequately meet the standards of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women"