Saturday, Mar 29, 2003
Cambodia approves pact on Khmer Rouge tribunal
PHNOM PENH (Cambodia) March 28. Moving a step closer to establishing a genocide tribunal, Cambodia's Cabinet on Friday approved a draft agreement with the United Nations on setting up a trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders. Cambodian and U.N. negotiators on March 17 reached agreement on the guidelines for the trial after more than five years of difficult negotiations to establish a joint tribunal with Cambodian and foreign prosecutors and judges.
The document will enter into force once the U.N. General Assembly and the Cambodian legislature have ratified it. Human rights groups have voiced misgivings about the draft, saying it gives to much power to Cambodian judges.
An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died from starvation, disease, overwork and execution when the communist Khmer Rouge held power in 1975-79. The movement collapsed in 1998, but none of its leaders have ever been tried for the group's atrocities. Many still live freely in Cambodia.
The Cabinet unanimously agreed to the draft agreement and ``congratulates the success we have achieved in this affair,'' Cabinet spokesman, Penn Thol, told reporters.
He said Cambodia ``is now waiting to hear news from the United Nations about the status of the document that we both have already concluded.''
He said the government will forward the draft to the National Assembly for ratification only after the U.N. General Assembly has voted affirmatively on the draft.
Mr. Penn Thol said there will unlikely be changes made to the draft since it has been initialled by both chief negotiators, the Cabinet Minister, Sok An, and the U.N. Deputy Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Hans Corell. Mr. Corell has urged Cambodia and the U.N. to quickly ratify the document, warning that both sides, if failing to act quickly, will miss ``the last chance'' to try aging Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity. However, some human right groups have expressed reservations about the agreement, which give Cambodian judges the upper hand over their international colleagues in legal rulings.
The groups consider Cambodia's judicial system too corrupt and vulnerable to political pressure to ensure justice.
The proposed trial court will have three Cambodian judges and two international judges. At least one international judge has to join in any judgment.
Amnesty International said last week it was deeply concerned about provisions in the draft agreement ``that reflect a significant retreat from current international law and standards.''
It said the agreement's deficiencies are so serious that it ``would oppose the United Nations signing the agreement without major revision.'' AP
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