Dr. José Ramos-Horta
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Dr. José Ramos-Horta
Senior Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs & Cooperation, Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate, and Co-chair of IDC
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Ironically this internationally recognized leader of Timor-Leste has spent most of his life exiled from his homeland.
Educated in a
Soibada catholic mission, Ramos-Horta trained and worked as a journalist.
When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, Ramos-Horta was on his way to the United Nations Security Council, urging them to take
action in the face of the Indonesian Military onslaught that killed one third of the Timorese population.
Despite his exile, in 1991 Ramos-Horta was
elected Vice President of the National Council Maubere Resistance (CNRM), an umbrella organization of pro-independence movements both in and outside East
Timor.
In 1998, he was again elected Vice President for CNRM's successor organistaion - CNRT. |
In December 1996, Dr. José Ramos-Horta shared the Nobel Peace Prize with his fellow countryman Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo.
The Committee chose to honor the two laureates for their "sustained efforts to find diplomatic solution to the conflict of East Timor based on the
people's right to self determination.
The Committee considers Dr. José Ramos-Horta the leading international spokesman for East Timor's cause since
1975.
Personal data
Date and place of birth: 26.12.1949, Dili -Timor-Leste
Marital status: Divorced
Children: One son
Normal residence: Dili and Sydney
Current positions
- Senior Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Timor-Leste
Visiting Professor, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney (1996-uptodate )
- Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Victoria, Melbourne (2000-uptodate )
Other active positions
- Acting president, Uma Fukun, East Timor Cultural Centre, Dili
- Member of the Council of Honour, University of Peace, Costa Rica
- Member of the Nobel Peace Commission on Arms Control
- Co-President, State of the World Forum, San Francisco, CA
- Founder, lecturer and member of the Board of Directors, Diplomacy and Human Rights
- Program, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney
- Founder and main benefactor, "JRH Micro-Credit Program for the Poor"
- Honorary Chairman, Timor Aid, Dili, Timor-Leste
Major international conferences attended
In the course of many years, attended and actively participated in numerous thematic international conferences dealing with self-determination and de-colonization, human rights, law of the sea, world criminal court, small arms and disarmament, etc.
Below some highlights:
- United Nations General Assembly, New York (since 1976)
- UN Commission on Human Rights, Geneva (since 1979)
- Security Council (numerous times)
- Special Committee on De-colonization (since 1976)
- The Hague Peace Appeal (1999)
- Forum 2000, Prague, hosted by President Vaclav Havel
- State of the World Forum (in San Francisco, Dublin, New York)
- World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland, January 2000.
- Second World Human Rights Conference, Vienna (1993)
- Nobel Peace Prize Lawreates meeting in Charlotville, Virginia, US (1997)
Major International Awards
2001 - Hollywood Film Festival Humanitarian Award
2000 - Gold Medal of the President of Italy
1999 - First Hague Peace Appeal Award
1998 - Gold Medal of the University of Coimbra
1998 -The Gran Cross of the Order of Freedom, President of Portugal
1997 - Medal of the University of San Francisco
1996 - Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo
1996 - First UNPO Freedom Prize, The Hague
1995 - International Peace Activist Award, Gleitsman Foundation, CA
1993 - Professor Thorof Rafto Human Rights Award, Bergen.
Previous professional positions (1969-1974)
- Reporter, editor, photojournalist
- Radio announcer, TV correspondent
Early political activities and positions (1975-1990)
- Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Information, ASDT (Timorese Social Democratic Association (1974).
- Minister for External Relations and Information, RDTL (1975-78)
- FRETILIN Representative to the United Nations and the US (1976-1990).
Special government experience
1986–1988
- Media Adviser to the government of Mozambique based in Washington.
In this position, helped prepare high level visits to the US by Mozambican leaders, including the President and Foreign Minister, establish Mozambique’s first lobby in Washington, develop relations with the Administration and Congress, and with the Media.
1989–1998
- Special Representative of the National Council of Maubere Resistance (CNRM) and Personal Representative of the leader of the Resistance, Xanana Gusmao.
- Vice-President, National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), elected at the CNRT founding National Convention, held in Lisbon, April1998, re-elected at the first National Congress held in East Timor, August 2000 (April 1998-June 2001).
Academic background
- Diploma, Executive Program for Leaders in Development, Harvard University (1998)
- Master of Arts in Peace Studies, Antioch University, USA (1984)
- Senior Fellow in International Relations, St. Antony's College, Oxford University (1987)
- Post-graduate courses in American Foreign Policy at Columbia University (1983)
- Public International Law, the Hague Academy of International Law (1984)
- International Human Rights Law, the International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France (1984).
- Diploma in Advanced Studies in Public Relations, International Centre for Marketing (1973).
- Senior High School and elementary school in East Timor (1964 -1969).
- Elementary School, Catholic Mission School, Soibada (1957-1964).
Degrees Doctor Honoris Causa
- Doctor of Laws, Pontífica Universidade Católica, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil (1996)
- Doctor of Laws, Antioch University, USA (1997)
- Doctor of Laws, University of New South Wales, Sydney (1998)
- Doctor of Laws, Rutgers University, New Jersey (2000)
- Doctor of Laws, University of Oporto (2000)
- Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Nevada, Reno (2000).
- Doctor of Laws, Sunshine Coast University (2001).
Books and other writings
- FUNU: The Unfinished Saga of East Timor, Red Sea Press, Trenton, NJ (1987)
- TIMOR LESTE: Amanhã em Dili, Dom Quixote, Lisbon (1994). Translated into French, German, Norwegian.
- East Timor and International Law (1984), MA Thesis, Antioch University, USA
- Opinion articles published in the International Herald Tribune, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian, Guardian, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Folha de São Paulo, etc.
Languages
Dr. Ramos-Horta speaks Portuguese, Tetun, English, French, and Spanish.
Government Palace
Infante D.Henrique
Díli, Timor-Leste
E-mail: gabinetemnec@yahoo.com
Chief of Staff: 00 670 7232921