Díli, 18 March 2026 — National stakeholders convened in Dili today for a historic dialogue on ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), a commitment two decades in the making. “The time for intention is over, the time for decision is now,” the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice declared.
Co-hosted by the Provedoria dos Direitos Humanos e Justiça (PDHJ), the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), and AJAR Timor-Leste, the dialogue brought together government representatives, parliamentarians, oversight bodies, and civil society two decades after Timor-Leste first signed the treaty in 2005.
In his opening address, Ombudsman Virgílio da Silva Guterres “Lamukan” connected the nation’s painful history of detention and ill-treatment during the Indonesian occupation to the urgent need for preventive mechanisms. “Many Timorese know what it means to live in fear of detention, of violence, of silence behind closed doors,” he said.
Nid Satjipanon, Asia Pacific Representative and Benjamin Buckland, Senior Adviser on Oversight presentations from the APT emphasized that OPCAT establishes a cooperative preventive framework, requiring states to establish independent National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) with powers to conduct unannounced visits to all places of detention. The APT noted that by ratifying, Timor-Leste would position itself as a human rights pioneer in the Asia-Pacific region.
José Luis Oliveira from AJAR Timor-Leste presented findings from its civil society advocacy work, validating community voices supporting ratification, while Teresinha Ximenes shared PDHJ existing monitoring work, noting that Timor-Leste “does not start from zero”, the Ombudsman institution already conducts regular detention visits under its constitutional mandate. A key session compared experiences from other countries in the region, with contributions from Arnaud Chaltin from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) joining online.
The Ombudsman made a direct appeal to Members of Parliament present, urging them to complete the ratification process. “You hold the pen that can complete this journey,” he said. “Let this Parliament be remembered as the one that took this step.”
Delivering the closing remarks, the Ombudsman reaffirmed PDHJ’s commitment to advancing the ratification process. “Ratifying OPCAT is how we turn memory into protection,” he said. “It is how we say, clearly and firmly: what happened before must never happen again.”
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