Cambodia
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The period of 1975-79 in Cambodia marks one of the darkest moments in twentieth century history. Over 1.7 million people are believed to have died and several thousands more to have suffered on Cambodia’s killing fields. In 2003, the United Nations and the Government of Cambodia established the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) to prosecute ‘senior leaders and those most responsible’ for the atrocities committed during this period. AIJI is working closely with the ECCC to assist it in achieving its mandate in accordance with the highest standards of international justice. Trials are currently anticipated to begin in early 2008.
Workshops at the ECCC
AIJI is working closely with the ECCC to facilitate legal workshops for both the Office of the Co-Prosecutors (OCP) and the Defence Support Section (DSS). The goal of the workshops is to provide lawyers at the ECCC with intensive, focused trainings in international criminal law, to further enhance their knowledge of the jurisprudence and expertise in the field. In order to do so, AIJI works closely with senior members of both the OCP and the DSS to ensure that the workshops respond directly to their needs. The workshops bring together experts whose combined experience in international tribunals spans the globe, from locations as far flung as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Bosnia and the Hague and as close to home as East Timor. AIJI’s workshops at the ECCC have had a 100 per cent attendance record and have been generally praised for their interactive format, their ability to engage participants effectively, and the impact they are having in helping the ECCC’s lawyers to prepare for trial.
ECCC Community Outreach Video Program
AIJI has teamed up with its partners the Center for Social Development and Open Society Justice Initiative (in Cambodia) to create and disseminate a series of pre-trial and trial phase videos explaining the rationale behind the ECCC to a general audience in Cambodia. The videos are being produced by local production company, Khmer Mekong Films (KMF). Two of the four films in the series have been completed and shown on Cambodian television as well as by NGOs in Phnom Penh and the provinces.
The pre-trial phase videos describe the reasons for the establishment of the ECCC and gives the audience an introduction to the Courts itself through the eyes of a Cambodian family. The scripts were drafted by KMF and then reviewed by the AIJI team, as well as members of the NGO community. The scripts are also reviewed by the ECCC itself including members of the Office of the Co-prosecutors, the Defence Support Section and the court's press and public affairs team in the process.
AIJI currently anticipates making a further two films in the pre-trial phase, and will then make weekly trial summaries of the proceedings during the trial phase. Building on the foundation of the pre-trial phase, the trial phase videos will take on a different form, comprising more of a weekly summary of proceedings, with some limited analysis / commentary - and will be more closely linked to our anticipated regional trial monitoring program. AIJI is currently seeking funding for its trial phase videos.
Trial Monitoring
Building upon five years of experience of the War Crimes Studies Center in trial monitoring in Sierra Leone, East Timor, Rwanda, and Indonesia, AIJI is establishing a regionally-based monitoring program for the upcoming Khmer Rouge trials. In addition to a permanent AIJI monitor, the monitoring team will include young lawyers and advanced law students from China, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Cambodia. The goals of the program are:
- to widen public awareness of the ECCC in the region;
- to train young lawyers by giving them the experience of working at an international tribunal and engaging in monitoring and legal analysis under expert supervision;
- to develop a regional network of young human rights lawyers.
The project is working with educational, professional, and non-government organizations in these countries to provide monitors and identify potential funding sources for their participation. AIJI will train and supervise the monitors, and manage the program. Individual monitors will write reports on the proceedings for dissemination in their countries and posting on the web. The team will also produce analytical assessments of the trials.
AIJI has also engaged several international partners in this program and is currently developing relationships with the University of Marburg, Bucerius Law School, the University of Zurich, and the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who have all agreed in-principle to join the program.
