Case Study Cambodia

Abstract

The destruction of cultural property is present in almost every armed conflict and the destruction of valuable cultural property occurs during peacetime as well. This chapter analyzes one example of the destruction of Buddhist institutions during the Khmer Rouge or the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) regime. It descrIbes the main events in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The Khmer Rouge, removed the Prime Minister of the then so-called Khmer Republic, Lon Nol,2 after a five-year-long internal armed conflict from power and renamed the country Kampuchea. The most suitable provision of the ECCC Statute for the prosecution of the Khmer Rouge's destruction of cultural property during Democratic Kampuchea seems to be Article 5, which deals with crimes against humanity. It has to be hoped, though, that the ECCC Trial Chamber will decide that the nexus requirement is not in conformity with customary international law.Keywords:Cambodia; Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK); crimes against humanity; cultural property; Democratic Kampuchea; ECCC Trial Chamber; Hague Convention; Khmer Rouge