Cambodia's genocide trials threatened by funding crisis
by Seth Meixner
1 hour, 28 minutes ago
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia's top administrator to the country's Khmer
Rouge tribunal this week gathered together his more than 200 staff to
break the news that after April they would not be paid.
The stunning announcement by Sean Visoth is the most tangible sign yet
that the UN-backed genocide court, established to prosecute leaders of
the regime that was toppled nearly 30 years ago, is going bankrupt
months before the first trials are expected to open.
The court's top officials hold out hope that the international
community or the Cambodian government will come up with the millions
needed to keep the tribunal running.
But the funding crisis has become the most serious threat yet to the
proceedings, already beleaguered by allegations of corruption and
mismanagement amid fears of political interference.
"It is hard to imagine that the court can continue to function without
funds," said tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis, explaining that the
Cambodian side of the joint court would go broke in April.
The UN-sup****ted half of the tribunal is funded for several months
more, but would also need a significant influx of cash after that.
"As the time for expiration of existing funds draws nearer, the
situation obviously becomes more acute," Jarvis told AFP.
Originally budgeted at 56.3 million dollars over three years, the
tribunal's operating costs have ballooned as the enormity of the job
of prosecuting those behind Cambodia's darkest chapter becomes more
apparent.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were
executed as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian
society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during their 1975-79
rule.
After nearly a decade of wrangling, the UN and Cambodia opened the
tribunal in 2006. The regime's top five surviving leaders were
arrested last year in what many saw as a sign of the sluggish court's
gathering momentum.
But those close to the proceedings say staff are overwhelmed, in part
by paperwork, particularly the task of translating tens of thousands
of do***ents into either Cambodian, French or English, the three
languages used by the court.
"The original assumptions about the resources needed and the tasks to
be accomplished were inaccurate as is often the case in these
tribunals," said co-prosecutor Robert Petit, who like other court
officials has been critical of the tribunal's funding structure and
projected timeframe.
"The original budget was inadequate and contained many gaps in
essential areas," said the UN's tribunal spokesman Peter Foster.
The UN and Cambodian government have requested an additional 114
million dollars that would allow the court to add hundreds of new
staff and remain in operation until 2011.
But so far none of the tribunal's principle donors -- Japan, France,
Britain, Germany and Australia -- has stepped forward to commit more
money.
"A lack of funds could certainly delay the proceedings," Foster said.
Another obstacle in the oft-stalled proceedings would be a further
blow to the tribunal's credibility at a time when sup****t is crucial.
Observers say that despite the arrests, donors do not want the
tribunal to be a show-trial that risks being commandeered by
Cambodia's government, which includes many former Khmer Rouge.
Two critical audits detailing hiring irregularities, with lucrative
jobs allegedly going to under-qualified candidates, have also made
donors hesitant to throw their full sup****t behind the tribunal, the
funding for which remains a fraction of that received by other
international courts.
"The donors received the revised budget estimate at the end of
January.... They have asked for further clarification in a number of
areas and that is now being provided by the court," the UN's Foster
said.
He added that donors are expected to meet before the end of the month
to discuss the tribunal's money crunch, and that a sliver of optimism
remains.
"Neither the international community nor the United Nations want to
see the court fail, especially since we have successfully come so far
along in the process," he said.
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