AN IRISH delegation will attend today's Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo at the invitation of the winners - the leaders of the campaign against the illegal occupation of East Timor.
The former Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald; the Trocaire director, Mr Just in Kilcullen; and the former Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ms Mairead Maguire, left yesterday for Oslo.
The Irish Bishops' Conference has praised the work of the Nobel Prize winners - Bishop Carlos Felipe Belo and Mr Jose Ramos Horta.
Dr FitzGerald said yesterday the award "will make it more difficult for the Indonesians to suppress the work of these people."
According to the chairman of the East Timor Ireland solidarity group, Mr Tom Hyland, "This award represents a call from the international community that this must not be a forgotten issue."
The presentation comes on the eve of the 21st anniversary of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. "East Timor is an occupied territory where there is no rule of law, no court of appeal, no freedom and where power is in the hands of extra judicial bodies who control life and liberty at will,"
Mr Kilcullen said.
The Irish bishops' statement supported the call of the Nobel Committee for greater efforts "to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict in East Timor based on the people's right to self determination".
The Nobel committee noted that since Indonesia's 1975 invasion it is estimated that a third of the population of East Timor "lost their lives due to starvation, epidemics, war and terror".
The bishops urged the Government to work with its EU partners to implement the EU Common Position on East Timor with concrete actions.
"The Common Position's expresses an explicit commitment to encourage dialogue towards a fair settlement respecting East Timorese aspirations and international law.
"It also pledges to help to improve the human rights situation, a vital first step to achieve this being to stop the supply of arms from EU countries to Indonesia which are being used as instruments of oppression in East Timor."
The bishops also called on the Government to demand the withdrawal of the Indonesian military from East Timor.