Timor Woman
Your tears are streams of blood
Timor woman
Your grim determination our hope
Your fierce love a call to war
Your face the record of our struggle
Our fight for our beloved Timor
From the poem Timor Woman
by resistance leader Xanana Gusmao
Rape of Timorese women by the Indonesian military was common, and the rapists enjoy legal impunity. Often the female relatives of Timorese resistance leaders were targeted. In this case the rape was used as revenge against the resistance member, as well as a ploy to get him to surrender. The Indonesian military has also made deals wherein women are raped by soldiers to save the lives of male relatives, or to save their own lives. In the refugee camps of West Timor abuse still occurs.
Women have been abducted and brought to military run brothels, or taken as "local wives" by military members. Again female relatives of Timorese resistance members were often targeted. In this case, the situation is used to more closely monitor the homes of resistance members. Women with lower levels of education, who are seen as easier to intimidate, were also targeted. While "local wives" may receive gifts of food as well as protection from other forms of abuse, the women are isolated from and often ostracized by their Timorese community. Children born from these "marriages" do not receive support from their fathers.
The Indonesian national population control program, Program Keluarga Berencana (the 'KB' program), has been accused of a number of violations of East Timorese women's rights. There is strong evidence of covert, forcible injection of young women with hormonal contraceptives. Drives to recruit women in KB birth control programs were often done by military members, and are therefore coercive. Breaches in the principle of informed user consent, as well as a lack of basic follow-up care, were common. The language barriers and cultural differences between Indonesian KB care providers and Timorese women make difficult both basic communication and the ability of the Timorese women to choose forms of birth control consistent with the predominantly Catholic Timorese culture.