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Cambodia’s Closure as to its Past of Atrocities

Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, center, former Khmer Rouge prison chief at Tuol Sleng prison, sits inside the court room during a hearing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007. Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal opened its doors Tuesday for the first public court appearance of a Khmer Rouge figure since the regime's brutal reign of terror in the 1970s.

Feb 23, 2009 at 12:42 PM

In the news U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal would  have to hand down a verdict in the first trial of a senior member of the Khmer Rouge regime that turned Cambodia into a vast killing field three decades ago. The  said court finds Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch guilty of the atrocities he was a part of in the past. In revisiting the tribunal that handed down the decision Jurisdiction for such crimes can be explicitly ceded to these tribunals. They are trying to achieve a justice and closure that will benefit that entire nation after such awful crimes have been committed. However, it is also argued that closure is the last thing brought by tribunals. They alienate large swathes of the nation, and turn people against the new government who are seen as “collaborators” with foreign imperialists. They exacerbate tension.

The Need for Closure

The decision reflects the idea that if you commit serious crimes you will be punished. If action is not taken against war criminals that gives a green light for more crimes to be perpetrated. In Cambodia we are certain that atrocities have grave consequences. Closure comes with the decision. But what is closure? It refers to a conclusion to a traumatic event or experience in the past. Need for closure is a phrase used by psychologists to describe an individual’s desire for a firm solution as opposed to enduring ambiguity. A nation is no different. For Cambodia the horror of its past has troubled it too long. And has hung like a great cloud barring its progress and the healing of the wounds inflicted upon its culture and national psyche.

Reaction to the Decision is Mixed

Reaction to the decision is mixed since the 35-year sentence given to Kaing Guek Eav – also known as Duch – had been whittled down to just 19 after taking into account time already served and other factors. That effectively means the 67-year-old could one day walk free. This validates the difficulty faced by war crimes tribunals that they are always torn between humanism for the accused and the cry for vengeance of the victims. A tribunal like this have to balance all concerned to genuinely attain justice. No one can dispute the enormity of such crimes.  Fetishising and symbolizing disapproval is damaging and will most likely reopen old wounds in societies. This is the consequence for all that have used Tribunals to deal with the atrocities in the past, including Cambodia. There is always a trade-off before justice and security; where peace can be secured by reconciliation rather than recrimination it should be.

There is always a backlash since some who have been more maligned would want harsher punishment but the court has to give a judgment that caters to all. An understanding of this fact would in effect make the decision more acceptable. This would of course necessitate that the emotions of victims that demand vengeance be first quelled.

September 10, 2010 Posted by | News | , , , , | Leave a Comment

Cambodian Cultural Wealth Ripped Away From Thailand By UN

The successful registration of Preah VIhear temple as a world heritage on 7th July 2008 gave Cambodian citizens great joy. They recognized the temple must be preserved and protected for all countries around the world. Unfortunately, this clasification led to Thailand troops surrounding the temple one week after the site had been registered: Fighting broke out between the Thai and Cambodia troops on 30th December 2008, resulting in the deaths of three Cambodian soldiers and more than ten Thai military.

Monday, January 12, 2009 - Editor: Tiep Seiha

Demands for restitution of  ‘cultural property’ have become increasingly common in recent decades. The campaign of the Greek government for the return of the Elgin (or Parthenon) Marbles is well known, but there are many other examples.

Fight For Return of Wealth In Other Lands

The Ethiopians demand the return of the Askum Obelisk, which was taken to Italy by Mussolini’s troops. Turkey fought a court battle with the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art for the return of the Lydian treasures which were pilfered from Turkish territory in the 1960s. Indians complain about religious statues and other things of value taken from temples during the British occupation of their country. Australian Aborigines, Native Americans and Canadians are demanding the return of bones and other cultural relics held by museums in Britain and the United States.

Cultural property is owned by the historic society

In international disputes about cultural property it is almost always states which claim right of possession over artifacts, monuments, and relics. The basis for their claims is that these things are found in, or were taken from, their territory. Cultural property, so conceived, is a resource that states have a right to control.

From a moral point of view this conception of cultural property is unsatisfactory. It gives the claims of states unjustified precedence over the claims of other collectivists. If a state forces an indigenous community to surrender artifacts to a national museum then surely this counts as a case of unjust dispossession. It favors collectivists that are territorial over those that are not. Why shouldn’t a non-territorial organization, like a religious group, be able to claim cultural property? Most important, the idea that that cultural property is a national resource fails to consider how claims to cultural artifacts might differ from claims to things whose value is merely economic.

Cambodia Victorious Over Thailand in UN

Recently in the news Cambodia consider it a victory in a diplomatic standoff with Thailand after the U.N. cultural agency agreed to consider its plan for managing a temple that is on land claimed by both countries. Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said that Cambodia had achieved its goal when UNESCO’s World Heritage Commission agreed on Thursday to consider its plan for the Preah Vihear temple on the border with Thailand.

The Preah Vihear Temple or Prasat Preah Vihear or Temple of Phra Viharn is a Khmer temple situated atop a 525-metre (1,722 ft) cliff in the Dângrêk Mountains, in the Kantharalak district (amphoe) in Sisaket province of eastern Thailand and on the border of Preah Vihear province of northern Cambodia.

Territorial Property or Property of Human Society?

True Cambodia might own the said temple complex and it has ties to their culture but by extension it belongs to the human race. It is part of the heritage of the human civilization. It is a testament to our genius, brilliance and inherent capabilities. It is not important who gets to keep, manage or preserve it so long as such is kept as part of the priceless heritage of the entirety of mankind.

August 28, 2010 Posted by | Travel | , , , , | Leave a Comment

Cambodian Anticipation of Justice With Khmer Rouge Trials

Cambodia Court Photo

Some rights reserved by Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Khmer Rouge tribunals have accomplished a historic event when considering all the factions and parts of the society that have come together for these trials. The history of death and tragedy have to come to and end. Putting the haunting past in its place is the main focal point of all Cambodians these days and the trials are the first step in that process.

What are Crimes Against Humanity?

Crimes against humanity are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority. In short they are acts that undermine that which makes us inherently human.

How Are War Crimes Different?

Along with crimes against humanity are war crimes. They are violations of the laws or customs of war; including murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave labor camps, the murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war, the killing of hostages, the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devastation not justified by military, or civilian necessity.

How Are These Crimes Dealt With?

In the case of these two fundamental violations of, the law of nations and of human dignity, they are tried in special tribunals. In the case of Cambodia it is the Special Tribunal for Cambodia called “Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.” This tribunal is empowered to bring to trial senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea and those who were most responsible for the crimes and serious violations of Cambodian laws related to crimes, international humanitarian law and custom and international conventions recognized by Cambodia. However the government perhaps fearing that a widening circle of defendants could reach into its own ranks, has sought to limit the number of those being tried. And its insistence that Cambodians be among the panel of judges and prosecutors has increased the likelihood of political interference.

Many Factions Come Together

These tribunals represent a significant collaboration of a national political and legal system with the United Nations, out of which has been developed a novel structure of criminal law and procedure. Moreover the setbacks that are certain to burden the operation of the court will need to be addressed with patience and persistence and with the overriding goal of ultimately achieving credible justice for the millions of victims of the Pol Pot era. In the end, this is an exercise in retribution and that is precisely what any leading perpetrator found guilty in a fair trial deserves for this outrage upon humanity.

Cambodian Society Haunted By History

In spite of the challenges facing the Khmer Rouge tribunal, the majority of Cambodians express support for any measure that will answer questions about a period of history that continues to haunt their society. A bad trial, a politicized trial would only reinforce the lack of trust and the mental problems that are a legacy of the Khmer Rouge era, but a good trial would make Cambodians face their problems…otherwise history will repeat itself. Justice is coming and the day will come when those responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes will pay for the horrendous acts that have done or facilitated the commission of the same.

August 28, 2010 Posted by | Society | , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

   

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