<\/p>\n
On 26 July 2010, the Extraordinary Chambers in The ECCC HRN would <\/span>However, HRN notes that the reparation measures <\/span>Since the establishment of the tribunal in Even so, HRN would HRN calls HRN urges The ECCC has opened the door for victims <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On 26 July 2010, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) passed down its judgment for the first case it has examined, Case 001. The tribunal found that the accused Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch, 67), a former chief of Tuol Sleng detention center, was guilty of committing crimes against humanity (among other crimes), and sentenced him to 35 years imprisonment. In addition, the tribunal decided to publish statements of apology that the accused made on the ECCC website. The ECCC was established and began to operate in 2006 for the purpose of trying senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge and those who were most responsible for committing […]<\/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-72","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\/72","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=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":540,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions\/540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nthe Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) passed down its judgment for the first case it
\nhas examined, Case 001. The tribunal found that the accused Kaing Guek Eav (alias<\/i> Duch, 67), a former chief of Tuol
\nSleng detention center, was guilty of committing crimes against humanity (among
\nother crimes), and sentenced him to 35 years imprisonment. In addition, the tribunal
\ndecided to publish statements of apology that the accused made on the ECCC
\nwebsite.
\nwas established and began to operate in 2006 for the purpose of trying senior
\nleaders of the Khmer Rouge and those who were most responsible for committing
\nmass killings, torture, and other grave human rights violations during the
\nregime of Pol Pot from April 1975 to January 1979. Human Rights Now (HRN), a
\nTokyo-based human rights organization, recognizes that in almost the 30 years
\nthat have passed since the human rights violations were committed, the ECCC’s
\nfirst judgment is an important first step in overcoming the history of
\nimpunity, pursuing responsibility for human rights abuses that have been
\ncommitted in Cambodia, and realizing justice for victims of the regime.
\nlike to acknowledge that the tribunal continues to address<\/span>\u3000<\/span>problems
\nit faced at the outset and that these should continue to<\/span>\u3000<\/span>engage
\nwith these challenges. However, HRN recognizes that the on-site<\/span>\u3000<\/span>process
\nof, and the participation of many victims in the hybrid<\/span>\u3000<\/span>tribunal,
\nwhich is comprised of both local Cambodian and supporting UN<\/span>\u3000<\/span>staff,
\nis an historical achievement. Every Cambodian citizen should<\/span>\u3000<\/span>play
\nan active role in the peace building process, and the tribunal<\/span>\u3000<\/span>proceedings,
\nwhich are held at the site where human rights violations<\/span>\u3000<\/span>occurred
\nand which were carried out with the participation of victims,<\/span> <\/span>have been an important
\ncontribution to that process. Additionally, it<\/span>\u3000<\/span>holds
\nsignificance in that it breaks new ground in international criminal procedure
\nfor trials of grave human rights violations. HRN believes that international
\ncommunity should recognize the importance of holding the tribunal in Cambodia
\nto the peace building process.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nordered by the ECCC were limited to two measures. Firstly, the ECCC decided to
\ncompile all statements of apology and acknowledgments of responsibility made by
\nthe accused during the course of the trial, and this compilation will be posted
\nonto the ECCC website after the judgment becomes final. Secondly, the tribunal made
\na declaration that Civil Parties, who participated in the proceedings, had suffered
\nharm as a direct consequence of the crimes for which the accused was convicted.
\nHRN hopes that the ECCC’s appeal mechanism will duly examine whether or not these
\nreparation measures were adequate under the rules of the ECCC, given the nature
\nof the damage suffered by victims. HRN further hopes that that the ECCC will
\ngrant other types of reparation measures based on the specific facts of each
\ncase in future trials.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n2006, HRN has monitored the tribunal’s operation focusing on the issue of victims,
\nand has called on the tribunal to be a place where justice for victims can be
\nachieved. To that end, HRN has made policy recommendations for the court. In
\nparticular, HRN has made recommendations calling on the participation system of
\nvictims as parties to court proceedings, and has worked towards the realization
\nof those recommendations. As a result, the ECCC introduced a Civil Party
\nsystem, and victims as Civil Parties participated in Case 001. Further, HRN
\nreleased a report and suggestions to address practical issues related to mass
\nvictims litigation, so as to make victims’ participation in the proceedings
\neffective. HRN welcomes the current situation in which victims, who feared that
\nhuman rights violations would be committed again, are breaking the many years
\nof silence and starting to speak of their suffering. This is an extremely
\nimportant process for building peace in Cambodian society.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe trials of senior leaders in the Khmer Rouge Regime have not yet begun, even
\nthough they are alleged to bear the most responsibility for the commission of numerous
\nhuman rights violations during the regime. In July 2007, the Co-Investigating
\nJudges started judicial investigations of Case 002 involving four senior
\nleaders: Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Thirith. However, their
\ntrials have not yet commenced. Considering the long periods of detention and the
\nold age of the four accuseds, the delay of Case 002 is not acceptable. Cases 003
\nand 004 are still in the initial stages of judicial investigation.
\nlike to emphasize that the purposes of the ECCC, namely, officially bringing to
\nlight the systematic human rights violations, realization of justice for
\nvictims, bringing an end to impunity, and preventing the re-occurence of human
\nrights violations in the future, will not be realized unless those who were most
\nresponsible for the commission of the violations are indicted and held accountable
\nby judicial decisions.
\non all actors involved with the ECCC to put all their efforts into ensuring
\nthat those who bear the most responsibility for the abuses are indicted and
\ntried without delay.
\nthe international community, in particular major donor countries such as Japan,
\nto contribute to establishing the rule of law in Cambodian society by supporting
\nexpeditious trial procedures and enhancing the operational efficiency of the tribunal.
\nThe international community must continue to monitor the ECCC’s operation to
\nensure preventing corruption, and should express objection <\/span>to<\/span> any political
\nintervention into the court’s procedures so as not to lead to the delay.
\nto claim moral and collective reparation, and HRN calls on the international community
\nto support in more concrete ways, the realization and implementation of those
\nmeasures of reparation.<\/span>