International Herald Tribune
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2006
NEWARK, New Jersey Each year on May 20, many Cambodians gather at local memorials to remember the atrocities perpetrated during the Khmer Rouge genocide in 1975-1979. On what is known as the "Day of Anger," crowds listen to local officials and survivors talk about the violence and suffering they endured in this "prison without walls," when almost a quarter of the population perished.
Some people cry as they hear stories that echo their own suffering and as they watch monks perform rites for the souls of the dead. Others simmer in anger. In the past, effigies of Pol Pot and his henchmen were sometimes kicked and set aflame in front of banners that read: "Remember life under Pol Pot who tried to destroy the Cambodian people."
While the holiday has shifted with the currents of Cambodian politics, this year's ceremony was notable for its new emphasis on justice. At about the time of the Day of Anger, King Norodom Sihanomi officially released the names of the domestic and international judges and prosecutors who will serve on the "Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia," the tribunal that will try the Khmer Rouge leaders.
The tribunal is set to begin operation as early as this autumn, when the Cambodian and Canadian co- prosecutors are expected to start their investigations. Yet the tribunal faces major hurdles:
Aging defendants: Many of the former Khmer Rouge leaders - including "Brother Number 2" Nuon Chea, 78; former Presidium Chairman Khieu Samphan 74, and the former deputy prime minister for foreign affairs, Ieng Sary, 76 - are old and in bad health. They could die unjudged, as Pol Pot did in 1998. Slobodan Milosevic's death while on trial in The Hague underscores the urgency of bringing such culprits to trial as quickly as possible.
Insufficient funding: While there is enough money for the tribunal to begin operating, there is a $9.6 million shortfall in Cambodia's share of the $56.3 million needed to fund operations for three years, a sum the impoverished country can ill afford to pay. The United States, which has not contributed a cent to the tribunal fund, could rectify this situation by covering all or part of the shortfall.
Outreach: Many Cambodians, particularly in remote areas, do not even know that a trial is about to take place - or, if they do, have little understanding of what a tribunal is. Nongovernmental organizations like the Documentation Center of Cambodia are working hard to disseminate information about the tribunal, but their efforts need to be fully supported by international donors.
The Cambodian judiciary: There are serious concerns that the legal personnel do not have sufficient training or independence, raising the possibility that the tribunal will be manipulated by the Cambodian leadership and will fail to meet international legal standards. These concerns were heightened when the list of judicial officials was found to include judges who have close ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP), including an army general who is reported to be a member of the CPP's central committee and has presided over two trials that, under questionable circumstances, led to the conviction of political opponents.
While such problems warrant immediate attention, none of them doom the tribunal. Cambodians I have recently spoken with want a tribunal so they can learn what happened and why. They want to see the former Khmer Rouge, most of whom live in freedom, held accountable for what they did.
The international community in general and the United States in particular should do all that they can to make the tribunal a success. Perhaps then Cambodians will one day celebrate a new holiday - a "Day of Justice."
Alex Hinton, an associate professor of anthropology at Rutgers University, is the author of "Why Did They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide."
Some people cry as they hear stories that echo their own suffering and as they watch monks perform rites for the souls of the dead. Others simmer in anger. In the past, effigies of Pol Pot and his henchmen were sometimes kicked and set aflame in front of banners that read: "Remember life under Pol Pot who tried to destroy the Cambodian people."
While the holiday has shifted with the currents of Cambodian politics, this year's ceremony was notable for its new emphasis on justice. At about the time of the Day of Anger, King Norodom Sihanomi officially released the names of the domestic and international judges and prosecutors who will serve on the "Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia," the tribunal that will try the Khmer Rouge leaders.
The tribunal is set to begin operation as early as this autumn, when the Cambodian and Canadian co- prosecutors are expected to start their investigations. Yet the tribunal faces major hurdles:
Aging defendants: Many of the former Khmer Rouge leaders - including "Brother Number 2" Nuon Chea, 78; former Presidium Chairman Khieu Samphan 74, and the former deputy prime minister for foreign affairs, Ieng Sary, 76 - are old and in bad health. They could die unjudged, as Pol Pot did in 1998. Slobodan Milosevic's death while on trial in The Hague underscores the urgency of bringing such culprits to trial as quickly as possible.
Insufficient funding: While there is enough money for the tribunal to begin operating, there is a $9.6 million shortfall in Cambodia's share of the $56.3 million needed to fund operations for three years, a sum the impoverished country can ill afford to pay. The United States, which has not contributed a cent to the tribunal fund, could rectify this situation by covering all or part of the shortfall.
Outreach: Many Cambodians, particularly in remote areas, do not even know that a trial is about to take place - or, if they do, have little understanding of what a tribunal is. Nongovernmental organizations like the Documentation Center of Cambodia are working hard to disseminate information about the tribunal, but their efforts need to be fully supported by international donors.
The Cambodian judiciary: There are serious concerns that the legal personnel do not have sufficient training or independence, raising the possibility that the tribunal will be manipulated by the Cambodian leadership and will fail to meet international legal standards. These concerns were heightened when the list of judicial officials was found to include judges who have close ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP), including an army general who is reported to be a member of the CPP's central committee and has presided over two trials that, under questionable circumstances, led to the conviction of political opponents.
While such problems warrant immediate attention, none of them doom the tribunal. Cambodians I have recently spoken with want a tribunal so they can learn what happened and why. They want to see the former Khmer Rouge, most of whom live in freedom, held accountable for what they did.
The international community in general and the United States in particular should do all that they can to make the tribunal a success. Perhaps then Cambodians will one day celebrate a new holiday - a "Day of Justice."
Alex Hinton, an associate professor of anthropology at Rutgers University, is the author of "Why Did They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide."
4 comments:
Why US didn't contribute any $$ to help secure this trail? Why?? maybe because they don't want this trail to happen?. They don't want to be finger pointing at as a super power nation who had contributed to the war and bombing of Cambodia? Or simply they just don't give a dammn about Cambodia?
You know, we have so much evidences of Crime/Genocide being committed by POL POT regime, every proofs are there, but we're have no one enthusiastic enough to get this trial moving fast enough so we can lock those bustards up and find justice for the deads and the livings. This shit just make me mad when comparing to a crime stories you seen on TV, where crime had happened, but not much hard evidence or proof, but they still worked hard at the case to find the guilty one. But in Cambodia, they don't have to work to hard to find the guilty one. they just need co-operaton that all.
dO You hwY ThE uS doesN't wAnteD THIS triAl to haPPen?...why any body NO, or just Drowm in AC in CambodIANA alreadY!...The Us aLready knew the KillER is, aNd This TrIal just Another ScAm, AnD wasted $$$ just For these cOmmUnist
get richer and richer, now just estimated $$$$$ on hun sen alone he had about more than 300 dollars already, forst he copies to changed for dollars, then the tycoon pribed him...so the Us won't deal with the coomunist country, like cambodia ..otherwise the chinese will interfere again..
just a wasted of money..clear now!
This is not a fair trail, it just another way of the king and the CPP looking for money .. that's all about this trial!!!
you dumm fucked 1:29 PM
You know no shits about what this trial is, even if you mother were to die by the hand of Khmer Rouge, you'll probably don't give a dammn, you ungreatful son of bitches. Go suck your own cock and get relief then you'll think straight..GET IT!!
You Get soooooooooo mad b/c it is TrUe, right!.. yUo Low Lfe Scum only KnOw How Ot sHit!..I think YuO had beeN once , that's why YuO kNeW well,, ehehehe,,, I think you were born from a horemther, right?
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