Cambodia
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), like the Special Court for Sierra Leone, is a hybrid international criminal tribunal, established by treaty. The ECCC is mandated to try senior leaders and those most responsible for atrocities committed in Cambodia between April 17, 1975 and January 6, 1979, when Cambodia was governed by the Khmer Rouge. During this period, the Cambodian people endured extreme hardship and violence. As many as two million people died. Many people were executed. Many others were worked to death, forcibly relocated from their homes, separated from their families, or were victims of torture, starvation and disease. In 1997, the Royal Government of Cambodia sought to establish a special court with the assistance of the United Nations in hopes of trying those Khmer Rouge leaders still alive and living in Cambodia. The ECCC was created in 2006 with statutory authority to try defendants for murder, religious persecution, and torture under Cambodian law, as well as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity under international law.
For a more comprehensive overview of the Extraordianry Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia ECCC.
Khmer Rouge Tribunal Trial Monitoring Program
The WCSC’s Cambodia trial monitoring program, set up in collaboration with the East-West Center, as part of the Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI), has two primary aims:
- (i) to ensure that the tribunal’s proceedings comply with internationally recognized fair trial standards; and
- (ii)to maximize the educational potential of the work of the tribunal.
We seek to widen public awareness of the ECCC in Cambodia, in the region, and internationally, through the dissemination of weekly trial reports both describing and assessment the proceedings as they unfold. We further endeavor to train young lawyers by giving them the experience of engaging in monitoring and legal analysis at an international tribunal, under expert supervision. By drawing on a regional pool of talented young monitors, the program strives to develop a regional network of young human rights lawyers who are able to engage with justice processes and to assess their overall effectiveness.
Click here to go to the ECCC Trial Monitoring Program page
Click here to go to visit the Current KRT reports page
Click here to go to visit the KRT Trial Monitoring Team page
Outreach Program
The WCSC and East-West Center Initiative (AIJI), have developed an outreach program for the Khmer Rouge trials that involves the production of a film series entitled “Time for Justice.” The films, produced by Khmer Mekong Films in Phnom Penh, are disseminated through regular television broadcast on the largest Cambodian TV network and through radio and community meetings. In the 18 months leading up to the first trial at the ECCC (which began March 30, 2009) we produced 5 “pretrial” films to educate the Cambodian public as to the structure and mission of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (ECCC).
With the beginning of the Tribunal’s first trial in March 2009 we entered the second, and main, phase of the film project. We are currently producing a half-hour minute film each week for weekly broadcast on CTN through a show we produce, called “Time for Justice: Duch on Trial”. The films use a talk show format, with two well known Cambodian journalists as moderators. “Duch on Trial” is broadcast on Monday at 1:15 pm, CTN’s second peak time slot with an estimated viewing audience of 1.5-2.5 million. CTN re-broadcasts the show on Tuesday afternoon. DVD’s of the films are made available at no charge to NGOs, embassies, educational institutions, the ECCC, and other interested parties. They are also uploaded every Monday morning in a sub-titled version at the East–West Center website (www.eastwestcenter.org).
