East Timor: Parliament ratifies refugee Convention and Protocol

The East Timorese Parliament today ratified the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. The motion was adopted at a special session marking the International Day of Human Rights. Also adopted was the international Covenant on Human and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. East Timor's President Xanana Gusmão will sign the two motions into law at a separate ceremony in Dili later today. East Timor becomes the 145th nation to sign the 1951 Convention. UNHCR is particularly pleased since relatively few Asian nations have so far acceded to the Convention.