The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh
12 August 2009 – The United Nations and Cambodia have announced an agreement
to establish an anti-corruption watchdog to oversee the tribunal set up to
bring to justice the perpetrators of the country’s notorious ‘killing fields’
genocide over three decades ago.
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), set up in 2003
by the UN and Cambodia and staffed by local and international employees, is
tasked with trying senior leaders and those most responsible for serious
violations of Cambodian and international law committed during the Khmer
Rouge rule from 1975 and 1979.
Designating an Independent Counsellor “represents a further step to help
strengthen the human resources management in the entire ECCC administration,
including anti-corruption measures,” according to a joint statement issued
today in Phnom Penh, the capital, by UN Assistant-Secretary-General for
Legal Affairs Peter Taksøe-Jensen and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok
An.
The new office will “ensure the requirements of due process of law,
including full protection of staff on both sides of the ECCC against any
possible retaliation for good faith reporting of wrongdoing,” the statement
added.
“In this context, the Independent Counsellor will be available to all staff
to bring forward any concerns confidentially, and will be empowered to
address such concerns.”
The tribunal is staffed by a mixture of Cambodian and international
employees and judges, and there are two prosecutors: Robert Petit, who is
stepping down as International Co-Prosecutor on 1 September, and Chea Leang,
who is Cambodian.
Estimates vary, but as many as 2 million people are thought to have died
during the rule of the Khmer Rouge, which was then followed by a protracted
period of civil war in the impoverished South-East Asian country.
Currently there are two cases before the court, including the trial of Kaing
Guek Eav, also known as “Duch,” who is charged with crimes including torture
and premeditated murder while he was in charge of the renowned S-21
detention camp. Nuon Chea faces charges of having planned and ordered the
murder, torture and enslavement of civilians.
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About Me
- Duong Dara
- Dara Duong was born in 1971 in Battambang province, Cambodia. His life changed forever at age four, when the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975. During the regime that controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979, Dara’s father, grandparents, uncle and aunt were executed, along with almost 3 million other Cambodians. Dara’s mother managed to keep him and his brothers and sisters together and survive the years of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, when the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia, she did not want to live under Communist rule. She fled with her family to a refugee camp on the Cambodian-Thai border, where they lived for more than ten years. Since arriving in the United States, Dara’s goal has been to educate people about the rich Cambodian culture that the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy and about the genocide, so that the world will not stand by and allow such atrocities to occur again. Toward that end, he has created the Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, which began in his garage and is now in White Center, Washington. Dara’s story is one of survival against enormous odds, one of perseverance, one of courage and hope.
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