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Timor-Leste: IDPs have returned home, but the challenge of reintegration is just beginning

tim_cp_dec09
Displaced East Timorese read newspapers near their camp in Dili, February 18, 2008. REUTERS/ Beawiharta
Three and a half years after the 2006 crisis and the displacement of up to 150,000 people in Timor-Leste, all 65 camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) have been closed and their inhabitants have returned home or relocated to other areas of the country. As of November 2009, only around 100 families were still in the few remaining transitional shelters in the capital Dili. With the return process in its closing stages, attention has now turned to the reintegration phase and the achievement of a durable solution for IDPs.

In one of the poorest countries in the world, people in Timor-Leste face significant difficulties accessing employment, services and infrastructure. The continued absence of a legal framework addressing land and property disputes, a weak justice system compromised by a culture of impunity, and a continuing need for security sector reform all stand in the way of sustainable peace. (...)

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9 December 2009



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Internal Displacement Profile

"Causes and Background","Socio-economic background","Political background","Land","Housing and Property issues","Violence and displacement during Indonesia's colonisation (1975-1999)","Violence and displacement around the 1999 independence vote","Displacement linked to the April-May 2006 violence","Other causes of displacement"
"Population Figures and Profile","Global Figures","Disaggregated data"
"Patterns of Displacement","General"
"Physical Security & Freedom of Movement","Physical security","Freedom of Movement"
"Subsistence Needs","General","Food","Health","Water and sanitation","Shelter and non-food items"
"Access to Education","General"
"Issues of Self-Reliance and Public Participation","Self-reliance","Public participation","Access to land"
"Property Issues","General"
"Patterns of Return and Resettlement","Policy and programmes","Return movements","Temporary relocation to transitional shelters","Obstacles to return and resettlement"
"Humanitarian Access","General"
"National and International Responses","National response","International response"

Previous Profile updates


News 
"Timor-Leste: Will UN ever act to condemn illegal occupation?", East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), 4 November 2009
"Resettlement money increased for displaced East Timorese", Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), 6 October 2009
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