Cambodia's UN-backed human rights tribunal - the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) - has taken seven years to get established. Following Pol Pot's death in 1998, and that of his former military chief in custody last year, many have expressed concern that those implicated could die before they face trial. However, the prospects for justice were enhanced yesterday, as the ECCC detained two high-profile figures. Perhaps the most important was Ieng Sary - the former Khmer Rouge foreign minister. (The other was his wife, a former minister for social affairs.) These arrests follow two others, earlier this year. As such, they offer some hope that 'the truth will out' for the Cambodian people - at last.
In addition to the factual summary linked above, you can read an interesting comment in the Guardian at: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tom_fawthrop/2007/11/beyond_the_law_no_more.html
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Day Thirty-Three: Cambodia's race to justice
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
The appalling events of the Khymer Rouge’s reign of terror are well documented. It seems unthinkable that such horrors could have had their origins and were underpinned in a Sorbonne doctoral thesis. Almost two million Cambodians lost their lives from a population of under eight million. The khymer Rouge watchword could have come from 1984 "To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss." But the prime mover, Pol Pot, and many of his henchmen are dead. The hell on earth they created has vanished, yet still those who lost family and the survivors need something to bring about a sense of an ending. A trial is probably the best way to restore and demonstrate a sense of moral order in a society that went so wrong and where life was so cheap. An alternative to a trial would be something like the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
But however the public statement is made, it is necessary to show the killing fields for what they were – lest we forget.
Post a Comment