Name Aniceto Lopes | ||
Awards Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership | ||
Aniceto Guterres Lopes (born April 16, 1967 in Tapo, Maliana, Bobonaro) is an East Timorese human rights lawyer living in Dili, East Timor.
Contents
Early life
On December 7th, 1975, Lopes and his family fled the country to Builalu, Indonesia to escape from the Indonesian troops that invaded East Timor. Upon their return to East Timor a year later, the Lopes family discovered their village of Tapo was destroyed, and moved to Maliana.
Education
In 1985, Lopes studied law at the Udayana University in Bali, after obtaining a scholarship from the governor of East Timor.
Politics
While studying in Indonesia, Lopes joined the National Resistance of East Timorese Students (RENETIL) in 1989. Lopes was in charge of relaying political information to and from East Timor and other parts of the world.
Career
After moving back to East Timor in 1991, Lopes worked for a NGO in Dili.
From 1992 to 1996, Lopes served as the secretary general of the East Timor Agriculture and Development Foundation (ETADEF).
Lopes began his law practice in 1996 by starting a law firm in East Timor where he represented clients in cases where human rights were violated.
Yayasan Hukum
Lopes co-founded the Human Rights and Justice Foundation (Yayasan Hukum, Hak Asasi dan Keadilan) in 1997, when East Timor was still ruled by Indonesian armed forces. The Yayasan Hukum offers legal services to human rights victims, and records violations of human rights. Lopes led the Yayasan Hukum from 1997 to 2002.
United Nations
At a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 1999, Lopes spoke about the problems he and other East Timoreses were encountering during Indonesia's occupation of East Timor. Lopes explained that Indonesian supported militia destroyed his home and office in September 1999. Lopes mentioned that he had also been receiving death threats because of his position as a human rights lawyer.
Lopes was also swore in as a member of the UNTATET's Transitional Judicial Service Commission in 2002. The UNTATET created the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor in 2002 and elected Lopes as its chair.
The commission lasted until 2005 and looked into cases of human rights abuse that occurred during the invasion of East Timor.
Accolades
In 2001, Lopes was named as a fellow of the Ashoka Innovators of the Public. Lopes was also awarded the 2003 Ramon Magsaysay Award of Emergent Leadership, for his courageous stand for justice.