East Timor Women
We weep as our children die from treatable illnesses because we can not afford to pay for medical care. We watch in terror as our menfolk attack and kill each other, burn our homes and destroy the peace for which so many of our citizens died.

Just 4 years after our independence was restored, our country again descended into chaos and disorder that forced tens of thousands of us to flee from our homes with our children and seek refuge in internally displaced persons camps.  

In our present situation, it is extremely difficult for us to improve our lives and we are compelled to seek the assistance of those who are better off. We therefore implore you to support the national and international organisations that are dedicated to helping us in our struggle for legal, economic and social justice, such as The Alola Foundation, Rede Feto Timor Leste and aideasttimor.org.

Obrigada!
Welcome to  East Timor Women

Timor woman
Manacled by your misery
Timor woman
Your spirit bound in servitude
(Xanana Gusmao Prime Minister of East Timor)

The women of East Timor invite you to share in our lives through this web site which has been created to raise awareness about the plight of women in East Timor.

After centuries of foreign domination of our homeland, we rejoiced when our national independence was finally recognised by the international community on 20 May 2002. Throughout the horrifying 24 years of the illegal and brutal occupation by our neighbour, Indonesia, we suffered immeasurable harm through torture, murder, rape, forced sterilisation and a host of other unspeakable offences against our dignity as women and as human beings.

The legacy of the violent past continues to manifest against us in high levels of domestic violence. We continue to experience the humiliations of poverty and underdevelopment.