On September 27, 2002 East Timor, the world’s newest nation, became the 191st member of the United Nations. This achievement comes after a long struggle against foreign occupation and only after four months of full autonomy. The first official act of the East Timor Parliament was to apply for UN membership. They also signed the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a prerequisite for UN membership. The UN quickly approved East Timor’s membership.
Along with key members of the East Timor government, President Xanana Gusmao attended the formal flag-raising ceremony at the United Nations building in New York and seized the opportunity to address issues of peace and human rights. Xanana addressed the UN General Assembly with a defiant speech that touched on East Timor’s resolve to fight extremists linked with terrorism and his plans to establish a peace week in honor of the new nation’s past struggles. The proposed peace week would take place every September to mark the admittance of East Timor into the U.N. and would consist of conferences, debates and seminars intended to promote discussion of such topics as peace, the fight against poverty, human rights, justice and democracy.
