Aniceto Guterres Lopes (born April 16, 1967 in Tapo,

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

) is an East Timorese politician and human rights lawyer.

Early life

On December 7, 1975, Lopes and his family fled the country to Builalu,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

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 Maliana is a city in East Timor, 149 kilometers southwest of Dili, the national capital. It has a population of 22,000. It is the capital of the district of Bobonaro and Maliana Subdistrict, and is located just a few kilometers from the bor ...

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 Commemoration for martyrs of the RENETIL (2017). The green flag is the flag of RENETIL. The National Resistance of East Timorese Students ( pt, Resistência Nacional dos Estudantes de Timor-Leste (RENETIL)) was a resistance movement of students fro ...

( pt, Resistência Nacional dos Estudantes de Timor-Leste (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 A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

in Dili. From 1992 to 1996, Lopes served as the secretary general of the

East Timor Agriculture and Development Foundation East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

(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 HAK

Lopes co-founded the Human Rights and Justice Foundation (Yayasan Hukum, Hak Asasi dan Keadilan, abbreviated as Yayasan HAK) in 1997, when East Timor was still ruled by

n armed forces. The organization offers legal services to human rights victims, and records violations of human rights. Lopes led Yayasan HAK from 1997 to 2002.

United Nations

At a special session of the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...

in 1999, Lopes spoke about the problems he and other East Timorese 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 sworn in as a member of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor's Transitional Judicial Service Commission in 2002.

Truth commission work

Lopes was named as a commissioner of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR) in 2002, during the UNTAET administration, and elected as chair of the commission."Commissioners sworn in to lead Reconciliation Body"
(Retrieved on February 15, 2008) The commission lasted until 2005 and looked into cases of human rights abuse that occurred during the invasion of East Timor. He also served as a commissioner on the

Indonesia–Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship The Indonesia–Timor Leste Commission on Truth and Friendship (more commonly known by its Portuguese acronym CVA, ''Comissão Verdade e Amizade'') was a truth commission established jointly by the governments of Indonesia and East Timor in Augus ...

Political career

Lopes is a member of FRETLIN, one of East Timor's major political parties. He was first elected in 2002 and would become his party's parliamentary leader. In 2017–18, when FRETILIN was in government, he was president of the

National Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopes, Aniceto Guterres 1967 births Living people Presidents of the National Parliament (East Timor) East Timorese lawyers Ramon Magsaysay Award winners People from Bobonaro District Fretilin politicians