Abstract: This study assesses the extent to which Canadian economic and political self-interest can be said to have motivated the complicity of successive Canadian governments in the East Timor near-genocide, perpetrated by the government of Indonesia. It considers the ways in which Canada facilitated and legitimized Indonesia's occupation, as well as Canadian diplomatic actions at the UN, pro-Indonesian foreign policy, direct investment in Indonesia, bilateral aid, and authorization of military export permits. The article suggests that Canadian policies to a considerable extent "aided and abetted" the near-genocide in East Timor. The research aims at further stimulating the debate concerning the relationship between the political and economic policies of Western nations and the state of human rights in various regions.

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