<\/p>\n
12 Human Minister for Foreign Request Human Rights Now, an (1) to express publicly and According to international The ECCC should take (2) t<\/span>ogether Establishing a Committee (3) to call on the Secretary-General to appoint a The \u3000<\/span> Within the ECCC, which was Human Rights Now released Cambodia, with civil war \u3000\u3000<\/span> Moreover, the ECCC has great However, this possibility of On the other hand, the ECCC The ECCC is entering It goes without saying that It is hard to avoid thinking Considering the above Among the above, with regard In order to improve these In addition, when measures Some cases of corruption However, it is unacceptable The ECCC must contribute to the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 12 December, 2007 Human Rights Now (HRN) Minister for Foreign Affairs, Masahiko Kohmura Request Human Rights Now, an international human rights NGO, calls on the Japanese government to take the following actions as preconditions for funding to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC); (1) to express publicly and repeatedly that the Japanese government certainly cannot accept corruption in the ECCC and to ask the ECCC to take specific measures in order to prevent such corruption. According to international NGOs and local newspapers, Cambodian staff members working for the ECCC, including judges, reportedly pay a certain amount of their salaries (eg. 25%) to the Cambodian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[157,16],"countries":[253],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-statement","tag-accountability-for-gross-human-rights-violations","tag-international-transitional-justice","countries-cambodia"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":549,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions\/549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDecember, 2007
\nRights Now (HRN)
\nAffairs, Masahiko Kohmura
\ninternational human rights NGO, calls on the Japanese government to take the
\nfollowing actions as preconditions for funding to the Extraordinary Chambers in
\nthe Courts of Cambodia (ECCC);
\nrepeatedly that the Japanese government certainly cannot accept corruption in the
\nECCC and to ask the ECCC to take specific measures in order to prevent such
\ncorruption.
\nNGOs and local newspapers, Cambodian staff members working for the ECCC,
\nincluding judges, reportedly pay a certain amount of their salaries (eg. 25%)
\nto the Cambodian government (so-called “kickbacks”) in exchange for their
\npositions in the ECCC. If kickbacks are actually paid, this is a serious
\nproblem as it happens in ECCC, which is supposed to advocate the rule of law.
\nFurthermore, it is clear that not only a kickback problem, but any corruption
\ncannot be accepted.
\nspecific measures such as expressing the statement by judicial officers or
\nresponsible officials that corrupt acts like kickbacks are against the law and
\nunacceptable. Alternatively there should be an anonymous internal report system
\nlike an ombudsman.
\nwith other donor states or even the Japanese government alone, it is necessary to
\nset the standards to check the effectiveness of measures to tackle problems
\noccurring within internal management such as the improvement\/enhancement of
\npersonnel affairs, transparency or leadership as well as prevention of
\ncorruption in the ECCC and to constantly evaluate them in accordance with those
\nstandards, linking evaluations with the funding of the ECCC.
\nwhich is in charge of the evaluation work can be an effective measure.
\nspecial advisor at high-level (SRSG or USG level) for the ECCC<\/font>
\nbackground and reasons for the request
\nestablished to try serious crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge regime,
\ninternal rules and regulations were adopted and victims’ participation was
\nexplicitly stipulated. Moreover, the trials of five of the accused who have
\nbeen detained(Kaing Guek Eav, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith, Khieu
\nSamphan) will commence by this November.
\n<\/span><\/span>\u3000<\/span>
\nthe statement “Justice for Victims – Fundamental Issues for the Extraordinary
\nChambers in the Courts of Cambodia” in September 2006 and since then has
\nmonitored the ECCC with its focus on victims’ participation. Human Rights Now
\nhas also exchanged opinions with those concerned many times including on the
\nfact-finding visit in October 2006 and conducted its second visit to Cambodia
\nin November 2007.<\/span>\u3000<\/span>
\nuntil the 1990s and serious damage done during the Khmer Rouge regime, has been
\non the road to overcome its tragic past. The process of the ECCC in this
\nsituation can be an extremely meaningful and practical step in reconciliation
\nof the society after conflicts with regard to the realization of justice and
\novercoming impunity. The ongoing process has gradually reminded not only those
\nworking for the ECCC but Cambodian victims of that possibility. The possibility
\nhas been complemented by various activities of a society surrounding the ECCC
\nin addition to the process of the ECCC itself and furthermore it has promoted
\nthose activities. A victims’ participation system, particularly a civil action
\nbefore a criminal court, for which Human Rights Now has been calling, has been
\nat the stage of filing civil actions, but it’s been recognized that it plays a
\nsignificant role in the ECCC in various aspects.
\npotential to improve and develop the Cambodian judicial system in general.
\nthe ECCC at the same time indicates the degree of negative influence in the case
\nthat the ECCC does not successfully operate. In this regard, a variety of
\nissues which are referred to as things to be resolved by the Report of the UNDP
\nand Expert Report of the UNAKRT cannot be ignored and corruption such as kickback
\nproblems which are pointed out by NGOs is never accepted.
\nwill reportedly run out of funds next year due to the delayed adoption of
\ninternal rules and regulations and what was not budgeted totally or
\nsufficiently. It is true that the entire the ECCC proceedings are expected to
\nbe completed in 2009 or later. In addition, it is certainly critical to ensure
\nexperts in the victims unit and witnesses unit, to train international legal
\nstaffs familiar with Cambodian law, to educate Cambodian legal staffs familiar
\nwith international law, to literally record the court proceedings, to improve
\nequipment in the court and to conduct outreach efforts all over Cambodia in
\norder to ensure the success of the ECCC.
\nextremely crucial stages and Cambodia and the international community pay
\nattention to the position and actions of the Japanese government.
\nJapan is <\/span>the biggest donor to the ECCC.
\nMore specifically, Japan contributed almost half of the UN finances in the ECCC
\nbudget and was one of the donors for the UN trust-fund which is used for
\nCambodian finances. At the same time Japan is supposed to receive additional
\nrequests for funds from the UN or the Cambodian government. What the Japanese
\ngovernment does and says has a significant influence.
\nthat when the Japanese government turns a blind eye, it leads to future
\nproblems in the ECCC and Cambodia. This is particularly true if Japan does not
\nexpress its position on the abovementioned various problems and take specific
\nmeasures based on its stated position.
\nreasons, Human Rights Now strongly calls on the Japanese government to take
\nactions which are mentioned in the “request” in order to realize the potential of
\nthe ECCC and to achieve its desired objectives at this crucial moment when the budget
\nand finance of the ECCC are focused on.
\n
\n
\nto personnel affairs, transparency or leadership which is mentioned in (2), the
\nReport of the UNDP and the Expert Report of the UNAKRT points out in detail
\nthat the recruitment process of ECCC staff members is defective: those who do
\nnot meet the recruitment criteria are employed, salaries do not reflect the
\ncriteria and competence, the recruitment process is not transparent and in fact
\nthe Cambodian side and the UN side function separately.
\nproblems, with regard to personnel affairs, it is necessary to ensure that staffs
\nwho meet the recruitment criteria by properly recruiting staffs again, give
\nsalaries matching the criteria and competence and make responsible officials
\nboth on the international side and the Cambodian side involved in the
\nrecruitment process and to record the process. With respect to transparency,
\nimmediate release ofsubmitted and published litigation documents, , periodical
\npublicatiosn of budget\/disbursements, and regular press conference are needed.
\nFinally, with regard to the establishment of leadership, it is required to
\nimprove the system of reporting to senior staff members and to recruit
\nresponsible international staff who are competent and familiar with legal
\nprocedures.
\n
\n<\/span>
\nmentioned above (including implementation by the ECCC and mandate of Special Advisor)
\nare taken, it is necessary <\/span>to pay
\nproper attention to Cambodian staff and to evaluate\/treat them fairly as well
\nas to be careful of the capacity reinforcement for legal staff in Cambodia in
\nthe light of the fact that Cambodia is a state concerned as well as a partner
\nworking cooperatively with the UN in order to realize the desired objectives of
\nthe ECCC.
\npointed out above are not related to funding by the Japanese government in
\nterms of budget allocation.
\nto overlook the corruption which is at the core of the credibility of the ECCC
\nif the Japanese government contributes a large amount of funding from the Japanese
\ntax payer’s money to the ECCC. With pervasive corruption, genuine justice
\ncannot be achieved, and therefore the Japanese government should play a role in
\nensuring that the ECCC is transparent, with no corruption and in accordance
\nwith international standards as a whole.
\npeace-building process for the Cambodian people and to improve the judicial
\nsystem there. Accordingly, based on this point, the Japanese government should
\nplay an active role in overcoming problems such as corruption and transparency.