Cambodia: Khmer Rouge Tribunal Donors Should Ensure that Prosecutions
Not Fall Short
By Sara Colm, Senior Researcher on Cambodia for Human Rights Watch
Published in Asahi Shinbum
May 1, 2008
The long-delayed court process to bring Khmer Rouge leaders to justice
is underway in Cambodia. The hybrid tribunal made of both Cambodian
and international judges, officially called the Extraordinary Chambers
in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), was established to try those most
responsible for the deaths of as many as two million Cambodians during
their four-year rule, which ended in 1979.
On a recently held on-site investigation, three remaining prison
survivors were brought face-to-face with Kaing Gech Eav (Duch), the
former chief of the regime's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, where more
than 14,000 people were tortured and executed.
Though the tribunal has started to move forward, for the ECCC to
successfully find justice for the victims of Khmer Rouge atrocities,
it must overcome several major hurdles.
Cambodia's judiciary is widely known for its lack of independence and
corruption, and for most Cambodians, a courthouse is not a place to
seek justice.
Often the accused do not have access to a lawyer. Judges have been
known to arbitrarily refuse to admit defense evidence and issue
verdicts written in advance of trials. In politically sensitive cases,
judges receive instructions from senior government figures.
In contrast, the ECCC is expected to meet international standards of
justice. However, the majority of its 19 judges are Cambodian. The UN
initially opposed the arrangement, fearing that the Cambodian
government would try to manipulate the tribunal. The tribunal=92s office
of administration is split into a Cambodian-administered side and a UN
side, with serious allegations of corruption plaguing the Cambodian
side including wage kickbacks to the Cambodian government.
In this context, what needs to be done for a fair trial?
Chief among the issues yet to be resolved is how far the ECCC will be
willing to go in following the evidence and identifying additional
individuals to investigate and prosecute. So far, five former Khmer
Rouge leaders have been detained including Duch. ECCC budget
projections presented to the donors in January indicate that at most
three more individuals may be prosecuted.
However, can the ECCC be credible if it only tries a pre-selected
handful of individuals? Many former Khmer Rouge government officials
and senior military officials continue to live freely.
Donors should insist that the ECCC promptly implement proper witness
and victim protection programs, without which prosecutions will be
hard to conduct.
Donors should also support the ECCC so that their international
investigators can carry out thorough investigations needed to bring
additional accused to justice and to enable victims to participate the
process.
As Japan and other international donor countries now consider a
request for an additional US$170 million, they should insist upon
significant reforms including conditioning their pledge on the ECCC
improving its transparency and addressing the alleged corruption
charges. Japan, which has already made significant contributions to
the ECCC=92s budget to date, and has one judge sitting in the ECCC=92s
supreme court chamber, is uniquely position to lead the call for
reform.
Only if key donors insist on all possible safeguards will it be
possible for the Khmer Rouge tribunal to deliver to Cambodians the
justice for which they have long been waiting.
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