THE EXTRAORDINARY CHAMBERS IN THE COURTS OF CAMBODIA – OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAM
Building upon five years of experience of the War Crimes Studies Center in trial monitoring in Sierra Leone, East Timor, Rwanda, and Indonesia, the War Crimes Studies Center, together with the East-West Center, has established a regionally-based trial monitoring program at the Khmer Rouge tribunal for duration of the Khmer Rouge trials. The program forms one of a number of projects established by the Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI). The goals of the AIJI Monitoring Program are:
- to widen public awareness of the Khmer Rouge trials in Cambodia, in the region, and internationally, through the dissemination of weekly trial reports both describing and assessing the proceedings as they unfold;
- to train young lawyers by giving them the experience of engaging in monitoring and legal analysis at an international tribunal, under expert supervision; and
- to develop a regional network of young human rights lawyers who are able to engage with justice processes and to assess their overall effectiveness.
The monitoring team for the first trial – that of Kaing Guek Eav - comprises young lawyers and advanced law students from China, Singapore, Indonesia, and Cambodia, alongside monitors from Switzerland and Germany. Further information on the team and their respective roles can be accessed here. [Link to NEW PAGE – Bios of Monitors] and their reports can be accessed here. [Link to KRT reports page].
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. David Cohen and Michelle Staggs Kelsall 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 periodic analytical assessments of the trials.
The War Crimes Studies Center is grateful for the engagement several international partners in this program. In particular, it would like to thank the relationships established with the University of Marburg, the University of Zurich, and the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who have all agreed to join the program. Monitors from Zurich and Marburg form part of the first team.
