Justice After Genocide: Impunity and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Wendy Lambourne

doi:10.5038/1911-9933.8.2.5

Abstract

After nearly 40 years, some of the key leaders of the former Khmer Rouge genocidal regime are facing trial at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). This paper explores the challenges and opportunities facing the ECCC in its pursuit of justice and accountability for the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge against the Cambodian people. It concludes that, despite the political controversies and resource constraints affecting the court in fulfilling its mandate to end impunity, victims and survivors of the Pol Pot era may still benefit psychologically from the long-overdue official acknowledgement of their suffering and the opportunity for younger generations to learn the truth of what happened. Some justice could indeed be better than none in the quest for healing and reconciliation at the individual and community level. This process may be undermined, however, if the prevailing culture of “small impunities” and the need for political and socioeconomic justice, along with psychosocial support, are not addressed.

Highlights

When I first travelled to Cambodia to conduct field research in 1999, I discovered that the lack of accountability for the former Khmer Rouge leaders responsible for the genocide of 1975-1979 was seen as the biggest impunity and the root of all the smaller impunities in Cambodian society at the time.[1]
Drawing on field research conducted in Cambodia in 1999 and 2009,3 it concludes that, despite accusations of corruption and political manipulation, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) could still contribute to peace and reconciliation because of the potential symbolic and psychological benefits for survivors of having their suffering officially acknowledged at last
In 1975 the United States withdrew from Vietnam, Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge, and the Cambodian people were subjected to three years of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot (Democratic Kampuchea) under which an estimated 1.67 million Cambodians died.[5]

Summary

Introduction

When I first travelled to Cambodia to conduct field research in 1999, I discovered that the lack of accountability for the former Khmer Rouge leaders responsible for the genocide of 1975-1979 was seen as the biggest impunity and the root of all the smaller impunities in Cambodian society at the time.[1]. In 2009, I interviewed Cambodians in a number of rural areas who had lost loved ones and suffered from the hardships during the Pol Pot era, who expressed relief that their suffering was receiving official acknowledgement by the international community and that they at last felt a sense of justice for what had happened to them In commenting on his experience of the closing hearings of Case 002/01, Kranh Uth, an 82-year-old genocide survivor from Kandal Province, said: “In the KR regime, I lost 12 relatives. The benefits would, as with the ECCC, be dependent on the provision of sufficient psychosocial support to assist survivors to deal with the process and reduce the chances of retraumatization

Conclusion

Findings

42. PoKempner 2005