July 19, 2011
Revue de la Sécurité Humaine // Human Security Journal

Abstract:

Three decades of civil war and cold war powers interference have resulted in an extremely painful situation for children in Cambodia. They suffer from the physical and psychological scars of conflict, from displacement and exploitation, from insufficient health care and environmental insecurity, from a political culture of corruption which diverts funds from their educational and health objectives and from a brutalisation of the society which endangers their freedom from fear. This study attempts to review the vast range of threats to which Cambodian children may be subject and to use the Human Security approach to highlight how interdependent these threats are, thus using the academic revolution introduced by this paradigm in threat assessment. But it has also attempts to exploit the more controversial “operational” side of HS in sketching personal insights on how the dealing with these respective threats may be improved, notably through more coordinated responses....

July 27, 2010
The Centre on Human Rights in Conflict // University of East London // Just and Durable Peace by Piece

Abstract:

Following the establishment of the international ad hoc tribunals, the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (ICTY and ICTR respectively), a new model of justice administration emerged at the end of the 1990s through the development of hybrid or internationalised courts. Hybrid tribunals are conceived as a mixture of international and domestic law and staff, as a way to provide the necessary resources and guarantees for justice closer to those whose work matters to most. This paper looks at the two most recent tribunals, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the War Crimes Chamber in the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (WCC) and examines their practice related to the expectations that hybrid tribunals have raised in terms of peacebuilding. Based on the authors’ fieldwork in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cambodia, this paper focuses particularly on the tribunals’ impact on the rebuilding of the rule of law, the strengthening of public institutions in the countries in which they operate and the perception of the public of their work. It considers the experience of the tribunals so far, problems and ongoing challenges in order to draw some lessons which can impact both their future work and other potential tribunals in post-­‐conflict settings....

August 19, 2009
David Lake // Department of Political Science, University of California, San Diego

Abstract:

This project argues that the current model of state-building is deeply flawed and that an alternative model may work better. It hews to a middle ground between the critics: successful state-building may be possible, but only if the international community adopts a different framework. Key to successful state-building, I argue, is restoring the legitimacy of the state’s monopoly of violence. The current model implicitly rests on a formal-legal conception of legitimacy in which law or institutions confer authority on officials, who then employ that authority to create a social order. But a formal-legal approach, however well suited to established states governed by a rule of law, is inappropriate in the anarchy of a failed state. Precisely because the prior regime has lost its legitimacy, there is no accepted legal or institutional framework that can confer authority on a nascent government, no matter how democratic. I develop an alternative, relational conception of legitimacy drawn from social contract theories of the state.2 In this approach, authority derives from a mutually-beneficial contract in which the ruler provides a social order of benefit to the ruled, and the ruled in turn comply with the extractions (e.g., taxes) and constraints on their behavior (e.g., law) that are necessary to the production of that order. The contract becomes self-enforcing – or legitimate – when individuals and groups become “vested” in that social order by undertaking investments specific to the particular contract. In this way, legitimacy follows from social order, not the other way around as in the current model. This implies that providing security, protecting property rights, and adjudicating disputes within society should be the first step in any state-building process. This paper proceeds in five principal sections. The first examines the concepts of state failure and state-building, arguing for a new focus on rebuilding state legitimacy. Section II probes and criticizes the intellectual foundations of the current model and practice of state-building. I then develop an alternative analytic foundation and model that rests of a relational conception of authority in Section III. I develop the role of international trustees in the state-building process and examine further the tensions identified above in Section IV. The final section examines the case of Somalia. Other cases are planned for future research....

February 18, 2009
Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael

Abstract:

In spite of the fact that UN peacekeeping operations are a relative new field for scholarly research, the literature on the subject has grown into a substantial body. This article distils from this body of scholarly literature eleven clusters of factors for success and failure for UN peacekeeping operations in general and tests these on four case studies – Cambodia, Mozambique, Rwanda and El Salvador – of one particular type of UN peacekeeping operation: the UN peace-building operations. It concludes that although the results of the four cases of UN peace-building operations largely confirm the factors for success and failure as found in literature for UN peacekeeping operations in general, theory on UN peace-building operations still needs adjustment and fine tuning. Amongst others, it appears from the cases that two factors that receive a lot of attention in literature – the non-use of force by the operation and the need for a clear and detailed mandate – are less important....

December 19, 2007
European Conference on International Relations

Abstract:

The article attempts to briefly analyze state-building theories and methods, as applied to justice system reform in post-conflict scenarios. In this respect, the international authorities involved in the reconstruction process may traditionally chose between either a 'dirigiste' or a consent-based approach, which represent the essential terms of reference for past interventions. However, features common to most reconstruction missions and relatively poor results confirm the need for change in the overall strategy. This requires the international donors to focus more on the 'demand for justice' at local level than on the traditional supply of legal aid. In this respect, the articles stresses the need for effectively promoting the 'local ownership' of the reform process, without this expression being merely used by international actors as a political umbrella under which to protect themselves from potential failures....

July 27, 2010
International Center for Transitional Justice

Abstract:

On July 26 the Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) handed down its decision in the case of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as "Duch.” Duch is the first former official to be convicted by the ECCC for the mass atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime, which governed Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Duch is the former director of S-21, the notorious detention and torture center also known as Tuol Sleng, at which more than 12,000 victims were tortured and killed. The court’s decision comes 31 years after the end of the Khmer Rouge's rule during which an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians were executed or died from torture, starvation, disease or forced labor....

September 23, 2009
Track Impunity Always

Abstract:

Kaing Guek Eav, better know as Duch, was born around 1942. He taught mathematics and was drawn toward Communism by a group of Chinese exchange students at the University of Phnom Penh. Arrested by Sihanouk's police as a "Communist", he was held without trial for several months. Soon after Sihanouk was overthrown, Duch went into the maquis. In the early 1970s, Duch was in charge of security for the Communist Party north of Phnom Penh. The earliest documents connecting Duch with S-21, also called Tuol Sleng - the interrogation and torture center of the Khmer rouge regime - date from October 1975. As the man in charge of S-21, Duch is alleged to have overseenn the interrogation and torture of suspected traitors....

February 13, 2009
International Center for Transitional Justice

Abstract:

On Feb. 17, a court in Cambodia is scheduled to convene a public hearing in the trial of the first former Khmer Rouge leader to be charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), as the court is known, is hearing the case of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as "Duch," former director of a notorious detention and torture center. The trial comes 30 years after the end of the Khmer Rouge's rule, when an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians were killed or died from starvation or disease. The ECCC has both Cambodian and international judges and a mandate to try senior leaders and those who were most responsible for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge regime, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes....

December 7, 2007
United States Institute of Peace

Abstract:

The recent arrests of major figures from Cambodia’s former Khmer Rouge regime garnered global attention. Among the five apprehended were the warden of a notorious prison where an estimated 15,000 Cambodians were interrogated, tortured, and killed in the 1970s, and the architect of the regime’s radical and destructive ideology. The arrests come soon after a unique system of transitional justice was created to address national reconciliation in Cambodia. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a hybrid of both UN and national systems, has as its mandate to try former Khmer Rouge officials with crimes against humanity, including war crimes, murder, torture, and genocide. Scott Worden, advisor to USIP’s Rule of Law program, and co-director, International Network to Promote the Rule of Law (INPROL) discusses the legacy of the Khmer Rouge and the current process of transitional justice in the country....

October 4, 2007
Track Impunity Always

Abstract:

Nuon Chea, with real name Long Bunruot, was born in 1927, in Battambang. From 25 September till 15 October 1976, he was acting as Prime Minister of the Democratic Kampuchea. Between 1976 and 1979, he is President of Assembly of the Democratic Kampuchea. As head of the security of the regime, Nuon Chea is considered as the ideologist of the Khmer Rouge and as a key actor of the revolution. He was the most powerful man after Pol Pot (see xe2x80x98related cases') and when the latter died, he became the party's highest person in charge still alive. ...

February 17, 2009
Crimes of War Project

Abstract:

On January 7, 1979 - just over 30 years ago - Vietnamese forces entered Cambodia’s deserted capital after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime and came across a detention centre on a site known as Tuol Sleng. The troops, led to the former high school by the stench of rotting bodies, made a gruesome discovery. The corpses of prisoners that had been killed only days or weeks prior were still shackled to iron beds. Chickens were pecking at bloated corpses lying on the ground. Five children were found alive, hiding in a pile of discarded prisoners' clothing. Tuol Sleng, meaning ‘Hill of the Poisonous Trees’ in Khmer, was the headquarters of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) Special Branch of the secret police (Santebal) or “Office S21” (S21). Kaing Guek Eav, otherwise known as ‘Duch’, was second-in-charge of the interrogation unit and later admitted to prosecutors that he personally oversaw the interrogation of the most important prisoners, and that he was ultimately responsible for S21. Over 12,380 detainees were executed at the prison. On July 31, 2007, Duch was charged with crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions – but not genocide - and placed in detention at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). His trial begins on February 17, 2009, which will start with an Initial Hearing to be followed at a later date by a trial on the substance. Duch’s trial will mark the first attempt to enforce accountability for one of the most notorious mass atrocities of the last century: the Khmer Rouge’s campaign of torture and execution that led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians, nearly a quarter of the nation’s population at the time....

February 11, 2009
Crimes of War Project

Abstract:

When Ishmael Beah was 12, the Sierra Leone Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels backed by Liberian warlord Charles Taylor attacked his village and killed his family. He spent a year running from the war before joining up with the army in order to survive. Empowered by the rifles they carried, and often high on marijuana or cocaine, many of the thousands of children who took part in Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war visited unspeakable atrocities on the civilian population. Child soldiers were known to have cut open the bellies of pregnant women just to see what sex the child was. Charles Taylor is currently on trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone on several charges, including the recruitment of children under the age of 15 years into armed forces in violation of international humanitarian law. The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) defines child soldiers as "any child—boy or girl—under eighteen years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity." This age limit was established in 2002 by the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. February 12, 2009, also known as ‘Red Hand Day’, marks the seventh anniversary of the entry into force of the Optional Protocol. The Optional Protocol entered into force in 2002 and requires States Parties to take all feasible measures to ensure that persons below the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities and that they are not forcibly recruited into their armed forces. States must prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers by non-state armed groups and must adoption the necessary legal measures necessary to prohibit and criminalize such practices within their State. It also enjoins States to provide assistance for the physical and psychological recovery of child soldiers and to facilitate their social reintegration....

February 19, 2008
Christian Science Monitor

Abstract:

Five high-profile members of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge government are finally in detention awaiting trial. It's historic progress toward long-awaited justice for the brutal regime that caused the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians in the late-1970s. The United Nations-backed tribunal set up in Cambodia to try these men is running out of money and is seeking additional funds from donor nations. The United States indicated last month that it may reverse policy and begin funding the court. There remain, however, legitimate concerns about the potential for corruption and the lack of judicial independence in Cambodia....

February 14, 2008
United Press International Asia

Abstract:

The Cambodian government is bound by the Paris Peace Agreements that were concluded in 1991 to end a protracted war in the country. Under these agreements, a field office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights was established in Cambodia, and the U.N. secretary-general appointed a special representative, all to monitor human rights conditions and help the Cambodian government honor its obligations under these agreements. From the beginning, however, there has been friction between this U.N. field office and special representative on the one hand, and the Cambodian government on the other. The former has issued reports and statements critical of the latter's human rights performance and its disregard for recommendations on improving human rights....

October 2, 2007
British Broadcasting Corporation

Abstract:

A United Nations report criticising the Cambodian administration of the Khmer Rouge trials has been made public.

January 18, 2007


Abstract:

Ockenden International works with some of the most vulnerable communities in the world. It works to provide opportunities to rebuild lives torn apart by conflict or natural disaster, helping restore self-reliance to displaced people.

December 8, 2006


Abstract:

In 2001 the Cambodian National Assembly passed a law to create a court to try serious crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge regime 1975-1979. This court is called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea (Extraordinary Chambers or ECCC).

January 6, 2006


Abstract:

Since 1992, LICADHO has been at the forefront of efforts to protect human rights in Cambodia and to promote respect for civil and political rights by the Cambodian government and institutions. Building on its past achievements, LICADHO continues to be an advocate for the people and a monitor of the government through wide-ranging human rights programs from its main office in Phnom Penh and 12 provincial offices. LICADHO conducts advocacy at the national level to bring about reforms, and works with other local and international NGOs to influence the government. LICADHO regularly produces comprehensive reports and briefing papers, and is one of the main sources of information on human rights in Cambodia. ...

March 21, 2005


Abstract:

The Coalition for International Justice (CIJ) is an international, non-profit organization that supports the international war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and justice initiatives in East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia. CIJ initiates and conducts advocacy and public education campaigns, targeting decision-makers in Washington and other capitals, media, and the public. Working with other non-governmental organizations in Washington and elsewhere, CIJ helps focus and maximize the impact of individual and collective advocacy. In the field, CIJ provides practical assistance on legal, technical, and outreach matters to the tribunals and other justice initiatives. CIJ has offices in Washington and The Hague, and contracted employees in East Timor....

February 19, 2005


Abstract:

The CDRI Centre for Peace and Development aims to contribute to building a culture of peace and to enhance human security in Cambodia, through applied research, raising awareness and developing skills for conflict transformation, and by creating opportunities for constructive engagement and reconciliation.

July 6, 2005
TIPinAsia

Abstract:

TIPinAsia.info provides quick links to country-specific information on trafficking in persons in multiple languages, as well as anti-trafficking news and information about individual countries. You may access this information by simply clicking on a country name or a national flag.

July 6, 2005
TipinAsia

Abstract:

A website with human trafficing news and research resources specific to Cambodia.

October 25, 2004
Global Policy Forum

Abstract:

The Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia in 1975 and killed more than a million people during four years of terror and misrule. When the Khmer Rouge were ousted in 1979 by forces from neighboring Vietnam, the United States supported the Khmer Rouge exiles and assured their continuing seat in the United Nations. US backing for the Khmer Rouge kept Cambodian politics in a turmoil and prevented the pursuit of justice for the mass killings. Finally, on March 17, 2003, the United Nations reached a draft agreement with the Cambodian government for an international criminal tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders. The agreement came after five years of negotiations and 24 years after the Khmer Rouge were driven from power. Under the agreement, the panel of judges will include a majority of Cambodians. Human rights groups argue that the government's ability to impose its will on these judges poses an unacceptable obstacle to justice. On the other hand, with many likely defendents over the age of 70, time is running out for justice to be served. This page follows efforts to establish the Cambodian Tribunal. ...

March 25, 2008
Center for Social Development

Abstract:

The Court Watch Project ("CWP") of the Center for Social Development has been monitoring court proceedings in Cambodia since 2003. CWP monitors observe proceedings to assess the courts' compliance with Cambodian law as well as international fair trial standards (such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). Based on this trial monitoring, the CWP issues reports that highlight possible breaches of fair trial rights. With respect to each area of concern, the reports describe the legal framework, explain CWP's factual findings and give case examples, and make recommendations for reform. These recommendations are directed at specific actors who are in a position to affect change. CSD issues four Court Watch Bulletins and one Annual Report per year....

December 6, 2006
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

Abstract:

The Oil for Development initiative aims at assisting developing countries with petroleum resources (or potential) in their efforts to manage these resources in a way that generates economic growth and promotes the welfare of the population in general, and in a way that is environmentally sustainable.

April 21, 2006
Open Society Institute // Open Society Justice Initiative

Abstract:

Thirty years after the Khmer Rouge took powerxe2x80x94 and following years of negotiations between the UN and the Cambodian governmentxe2x80x94the Extraordinary Chambers are finally preparing to try the remaining Khmer Rouge leaders. This issue of Justice Initiatives examines the Extraordinary Chambers and the challenges of securing justice for the victims of the Khmer Rouge.

October 4, 2004
Yale University

Abstract:

Since 1994, the award-winning Cambodian Genocide Program, a project of the Genocide Studies Program at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies, has been studying the Cambodian genocide (1975-1979) to learn as much as possible about the tragedy, and to help determine who was responsible for the crimes of the Pol Pot regime.

August 5, 2011
Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute

Abstract:

After the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement, Cambodia set about the difficult process of state-building. Despite violent clashes in 1997-98, the Cambodian government has been largely successful in establishing full control of military forces, into which former Khmer Rouge soldiers have been reintegrated. The Cambodian government, with support of donors, successfully improved infrastructure throughout the country, built up capacity in key state institutions, and provided basic public services to the people. Behind these achievements was assistance from a grassroots network built by the Cambodian People‟s Party in the 1980s. This network is characterized by patronage connections between the government and village chiefs, and between the latter and villagers. Consequently, the legitimacy of the state has been strengthened. In contrast, social empowerment has been delayed, and people's political rights and freedoms have been restricted by the state. As shown by the recent increase of corruption charges and land tenure disputes, the imbalance between the powerful state and a stunted civil society is a potential factor of instability....

July 12, 2011
National School of Surveying // University of Otago

Abstract:

Reforming land tenure is an integral part of the process of post-conflict development which is currently underway in Cambodia. However, the land tenure reforms have remained focused on the desire to achieve primarily economic gains, seeking improved access for citizens to formal credit, higher land values, higher rates of investment in land, and increases in income. Though such outcomes can be attributed to a process of reducing income-based poverty, the social and equity impacts of tenure reform must be addressed more directly if well-being is to improve and the potential for future conflict is to be reduced.

This paper examines the interface between land tenure and human security in post-conflict Cambodia in order to help reveal ways in which tenure reform can make a more coherent contribution toward broad-based and sustainable development. Efforts to improve human security are premised on the understanding that, in order for the development process to be effective, individuals must first be empowered to participate in primarily economic opportunities while at the same time be protected from threats that may compromise their physical, social, or psychological well-being. In this context, a functional system of tenure reform must address the underlying conditions or factors that provide people with constructive coping mechanisms to deal with threats to their security....

April 7, 2011
Institute for Security and Development Policy

Abstract:

The Mekong River – Southeast Asia’s largest river – runs from the Tibetan Plateau and through China’s Yunnan province. This part of the river is heavily dammed. South of China, as it goes through Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, has been spared. That might soon be changing as Laos, backed by Thailand, is set to start the construction of the 1260 megawatt Xayaburi hydroelectric plant. Vietnam opposes this plan and claims that the future of the river, and the communities along it, will be threatened. National interests are clearly pitted against each other. The split regarding the future of the Mekong River threatens to damage the relations between Laos and Vietnam and increase regional insecurity....

March 31, 2011
Human Rights Watch

Abstract:

This Human Rights Watch report details the latest government crackdowns on these indigenous peoples, known collectively as Montagnards. The report documents police sweeps to root out Montagnards in hiding. It details how the authorities have dissolved house church gatherings, orchestrated coerced renunciations of faith, and sealed off the border to prevent asylum seekers from fleeing to Cambodia.

March 18, 2011
United Nations Mine Action Service // United Nations Development Programme // United Nations Children’s Fund

Abstract:

The Portfolio of Mine Action Projects is a resource tool and reference document for donors, policy-makers, advocates, and national and international mine action implementers. The country and territory-specific proposals in the portfolio reflect strategic responses developed in the field to address all aspects of the problem of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). This country and territory-based approach aims to present as comprehensive a picture as possible of the full range of mine action needs in particular countries and thematic issues related to mine action. The portfolio ideally reflects projects developed by mine- and ERW-affected countries and territories based on their priorities and strategies; the approaches are endorsed by national authorities. The portfolio does not automatically entail full-scale direct mine action assistance by the United Nations, but is in essence a tool for collaborative resource mobilization, coordination and planning of mine action activities involving partners and stakeholders. A country portfolio coordinator (CPC) leads each country portfolio team and coordinates the submission of proposals to the portfolio’s headquarters team. While the majority of the CPCs are UN officials, this role is increasingly being assumed by national authorities. The country portfolio teams include representatives from national and local authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the United Nations and the private sector. Locally based donor representatives are invited to attend preparation meetings. Each portfolio chapter contains a synopsis of the scope of the landmine and ERW problem, a description of how mine action is coordinated, and a snapshot of local mine action strategies. Many of the strategies complement or are integrated into broader development and humanitarian frameworks such as national development plans, the UN development assistance frameworks and national poverty reduction plans. This 14th edition of the annual Portfolio of Mine Action Projects features overviews and project outlines for 29 countries, territories or missions affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war. There are 238 projects in the 2011 portfolio. Africa accounts for the largest number: 92....

September 18, 2008
Cambodian Genocide Program // Yale University

Abstract:

CGEO is a searchable, interactive database of maps, satellite images, and detailed information on 130,000 locations across Cambodia. It includes: 1) a series of digital map layers displaying Cambodia’s relief and elevation and recording its political and environmental geography in 1962, 1972, 1973-76, 1990, and 2000. 2) another series of layers showing, on any of those maps: 1. the locations and names of Cambodia’s 13,042 villages (phum) 2. a spatially referenced display and description of the 115,273 sites targeted in the 231,467 US bombing sorties flown over Cambodia between October 1965 and May 1975, dropping 2,757,107 tons of munitions 3. the locations of 158 prisons run by the Khmer Rouge (Democratic Kampuchea, or ‘DK’) during April 1975-January 1979 4. 309 DK mass-grave sites (including 258 estimated to each contain six or more bodies; 125 sites, 1,000 or more; 27 sites, 10,000 bodies or more; and 7 sites, 30-70,000 each); in an estimated total of 19,000 grave pits. 5. 76 sites of post-1979 memorials to victims of the Khmer Rouge. Any of the first series of layers can be displayed in combination with any or all of the second series, along with other geographic layers such as the boundaries of provinces (khet) and subdistricts (khum), DK-era Zone (phumipeak) and Region (damban) boundaries, and roads and watercourses. Just click on any selected box(es) in the map’s legend at right, then “Refresh.” Map layers listed closer to the top of the legend display over those listed below them. Zoom in by clicking the '+' magnifying-glass icon (second from top at left) and drawing a square around a selected portion of the map. To read attributes of any points in the second series of layers, click on the appropriate boxes in the legend at right, to make the points "Visible" and "Active," then on the Information icon " i" in the black circle at left of the map, and move the cross-hair cursor to click precisely on the selected point on the map. For phum, this displays the name of the village on that site. For US bombing points, attributes of a site’s bombardment are displayed in tabular form, e.g. the date of the bombing, exact location, the number and type of aircraft in the sortie, bombing load and ordnance type, the nature of the intended target, and bomb damage assessment (BDA). Individual sortie payloads ranged in size from tens of lbs. to several thousand tons. The dataset details the 42 aircraft types deployed, including B-52's, and the 188 types of munitions they dropped, including 500-lb. 'carpet bombs', cluster bombs, fire bombs and 1000-lb. bombs. For the DK mass grave sites, attributes include the estimated number of pits and bodies....