Part of the International Conflicts series

Patricia Marchak: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) to Prosecute Crimes Committed by the Khmer Riuge (KR) During Democratic Kampuchea (DK)

Patricia Marchack commented on how the Khmer Rouge killed about 1/3 of the population in Cambodia in 1975-79.

She explained how devastated such countries are after these kinds of conflicts, and how difficult they are to rebuild, especially the police forces and court system.

What complicates it further is that the politicians often overlap with the entities targeted by redress initiatives. Nor do tribunals fully reflect the complexities of the populations they serve.

There are challenges in training Cambodian lawyers, because they do not want to be influenced by outsiders and their perspectives of international law.

To avoid these complexities, some experts recommend a completely independent international tribunal.

These notes are from the Cross-Purposes? International Law and Political Settlements conference at the University of Western Ontario, on Jun. 9-10, 2007, with some editorial content added by Omar Ha-Redeye.