Khmer Rouge Tribunal

So...I finished at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) a month or so ago, but such is life that it's only now that I remember I have a blog, let alone that I should fill it in.

I arrived to work in the Office of the Co-Prosecutors, for international prosecutor, Robert Petit. Arriving at a time when the office and the entire tribunal was really in its formative process made for a variety of tasks to be had.

Finding evidence in boxes meant a large amount of my time was spent on organisational aspects of the office's activities before I was able to move onto more substantive work. I found it difficult at first to try and get away from this administrative type work. At a tribunal where there was no basic support staff - it was easy to see that it could possibly fall to an intern to shuffle papers. Alas, after a wee while of such activity, I was rewarded with the good stuff.

I headed to the field on a weekend, trying to piece together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle about one of our potential suspects. From there, it was a matter of analysing evidence to try and put into perspective the types of crimes that occurred under the Khmer Rouge Regime. I searched through newspaper articles published at the time that contained photos of the conditions. I analysed old interviews in Thai refugee camps and put all this information towards our Prosecutorial strategy. I read stories of women whose children were beaten against trees, of a man who died by having a hot poker placed in his anus, of directions given to torture people to death, of hundreds of people beaten to death. I read of the separation of families, of child soldiers and the intense starvation of a population.

On the side, I researched and drafted a paper to be delivered by Robert Petit at a conference on Corruption and the role of Prosecutors that took place at the end of February in Thailand. I also prepared information for a conference Robert was a guest speaker at Harvard Law School.

By now, due to the non-specificity of this entry, you can imagine the confidentiality clauses I am bound by and thus that leads me to a more interesting insight to the work.

Working in Cambodia posed a few interesting experiences. As I had guessed, I had a lot of trouble suddenly working for the 'other' side. Being ferried to and from work in a UN bus, and experiencing Phnom Penh where there is a gigantic divide between Cambodians and expats was a very strange experience and not something I enjoyed. I can honestly say that I desperately missed being in the field and talking to the victims of the atrocities face to face. Despite being in the country, I felt removed from what had happened there.

Corruption is a way of life, the justice system of Cambodia is deserving of italics and working on something that is the heart of a nation, the centre of genocide-tourism, the dust swept under a nation's rug, and very much in the midst of a political climate that is increasingly accused of human rights violations and crackdowns (see Human Rights Watch country report, 2007) posed interesting dynamics.

My experience was heightened by the people I became friends with. Steve Heder, one of the premier academics on Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge became a vital link in the chain towards my understanding of one of the dark chapters of the world's history. Having worked on the border regions throughout the Khmer Rouge period, speaking fluent Khmer and knowing the ins and outs of all the Cambodian players made him an invaluable source of information. Spending time also with the legal advisors to the tribunal, and having the opportunity to speak on a daily basis with international Prosecutors, Defense Lawyers, researchers, witness protectors, peacekeepers and all other things international was incredible.

Having been gone a month, I can look back with a tiny bit of retrospect and evaluate my experience there without the emotions I felt when in Phnom Penh.

Whilst I was there, I went through a cycle of highs and lows. Some days I was on top of the world, knowing that we were battling towards the right outcome, other days left me wondering how I could ever be involved in such a process. In the end though, I did almost everything within my power to enable me to stay on. Being an intern for the UN means that you cannot be employed within 6 months of finishing your internship, so it was a matter of receiving funding to allow me to stay - alas, it was not to be.

Working in Cambodia has probably been one of the biggest challenges I've had. I worked very hard for the respect of my colleagues in the early days and being the youngest female in the office was perhaps not the easy foot to commence on. I persisted and persisted to have my voice be heard and found innovative ways to achieve that. All this meant, that the final two months at the tribunal were absolutely sensational! To be able to waltz into an International Prosecutor's office who has worked in tribunals all over the world and bounce ideas and theories off him or her, AND be listened to, was sensational. To put into practice the theory of international criminal law in a real life context was satisfying. And to be there as the tribunal entered some of its darkest days and experience the depression of those who had worked so hard, as their project's very existence veered into question was heartbreaking.

Now, I look back and can see exactly what it has taught me. On a professional level, I have learnt how to conduct myself with my relatively tender age, in a manner that earns respect from people far more senior.

I have learnt a lot about the realities of implementing international criminal law.

I have learnt a lot about the hybrid process of an international tribunal.

I have learnt a lot about corruption.

I learnt in particular, about the crimes of torture, execution, enslavement and persecution.

And of course, I have learnt a lot about the Khmer Rouge and the purely frightening things they have committed.

I have learnt that the world cannot wait as long as they have for the Khmer Rouge, to act upon such crimes against humanity.

But now, I see that I learnt more than this substantial stuff. I have learnt about the dynamics at play between the legal and the political. I have learnt about the interaction between a UN mission and NGOs/Pressure groups. I have learnt about the way in which international and local actors should and shouldn't work together. I have learnt that the basic rule of law is vital to the smooth operating of a country. I have learnt that the ethics of transitional justice are a whirlpool. I have learnt that I will be learning forever.

And so, where has all this got me? I guess that'll be for a month's time when I realise I must write about my next internship - as a member of the Australian Delegation to the UN Human Rights Council. So, cheers to politics and an even tighter confidentiality clause!

Bridi