Sir, - As the hours tick by, more and more human beings are being slaughtered in East Timor. Worse! They are suffering beheadings and other atrocious acts because they accepted the assurances from the United Nations that they would be protected while exercising their democratic right to vote.
Ireland, as a UN member, acceded to the UN's encouragement of the East Timorese. As voters we, the Irish people, have therefore also been implicated in the appalling scenes we all have seen on TV and which an Oxfam mission on the ground in East Timor has witnessed at first hand.
The UN Security Council - in particular its five permanent members, the UK, US, Russia, China, and France - have botched their responsibilities to the East Timorese, to their own citizens, and those of other countries. What does the United Nations stand for if not for human rights and democracy? Wasn't a Balkans war fought this year to defend these universal values?
If democracy - and the credibility of global political leaders - is to mean anything for any of us on the planet, it is absolutely essential that resolute action in East Timor be taken now. The flouting of basic human rights must be stopped at once. The killings must be stopped immediately.
We call on the Security Council to do its duty without delay. We ask everyone here to press this urgent message on their political representatives. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Brian Scott, Executive Director, Oxfam Ireland, Burgh Quay, Dublin 2.