In Depth back to UNI In Depth home page 10/26/2000 Indonesia: Children held in slavery Pro-Jakarta Timorese have taken 130 East Timor children from their parents in Indonesian West Timor refugee camps and put them in poor orphanages in central Java, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The men planned to indoctrinate the children into becoming political activists pushing for East Timor to rejoin Indonesia, humanitarian investigators and other sources said. Investigators believe the children - aged between 6 and 17 - are among up to 1,000 separated from their parents at the height of violence in East Timor last year and later from refugee camps in West Timor. Investigators fear many of the children have been forced to work in factory sweatshops, plantations or as prostitutes. The 130 children were found living in primitive orphanage shelters under the supervision of caring Catholic nuns and volunteers who struggle to provide food, clothing and medicines to look after them. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, whose representatives have twice visited the children, said it wanted to contact the parents and arrange for the families to be reunited. But the withdrawal of aid workers from West Timor after the killing of three UNHCR aid workers has frustrated the plan. "The principle of family unity is central to this," said Peter Kessler, UNHCR spokesman in Dili. "The UNHCR will support efforts to reunite these children with their families in either West Timor or East Timor." More Information: http://www.unhcr.ch/ ______________________ Union Network International http://www.union-network.org - contact@union-network.org