PHNOM PENH, March 26, 2012 (PRU) – Australia’s newly appointed
Foreign Minister, Senator Bob Carr, in his first overseas visit, told Cambodian
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An on Monday that Canberra pledged another AUD$1.61
million for the Extraordinary Chamber within the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
The Foreign Minister said in the meeting that this new assistance is
to continue to contribute to the Court’s process. “Cambodia is to be
congratulated for coming to terms with its history and for moving forward to
bring justice for the victims”, he said.
His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Sok An, in response,
expressed his thanks for the continuing Australian support for the Court. He
then went on to discuss the ECCC’s five world records.
He said that among the records including: speed in carrying out its
work including adoption of internal rules and conducting the first trial; the
Court’s relatively low cost; the swift and smooth arrest of all charged persons
and the absence of any fugitives; the wide extent of public participation and
support, and the unprecedented involvement of victims as civil parties in the
judicial process.
His Excellency Dr. SokAn said that if the Court continues its present
course, it may well be able to add two more records. The 6th record is the
significance of Case 002, in which all the most responsible senior leaders, are
now being tried by the Court. This has been described as the most important
case in international legal history, at least since Nuremberg.
The 7th record will hopefully be the Court’s legacy, an important
aspect of which will be the archiving of its records at a documentation centre
now under construction, where national and international researchers can get
access to such records in the future.
Another aspect of the legacy of the ECCC will be served as a model
for the national judicial system, especially in court administration and
records management, and the government looks to apply those experiences to the
local courts in the future, he said.
Senator Carr said he was “deeply impressed” by his visit to the ECCC,
especially his meeting with about 20 school students, who themselves had lost
grandparents under the Khmer Rouge regime of Democratic Kampuchea, and who were
now witnessing justice being done in their own country.
His Excellency Dr. Sok An said that nearly 70 percent of the total
Cambodian population were born after the Khmer Rouge was ousted from power in
1979, thus “the trial of the most responsible leaders of Khmer Rouge regime
also aims to ensure the remembrance and non-recurrence of genocide as well as
the strengthening of the rule of law of Cambodia.”
Senator Carr referred to Australia’s continuing support for demining
projects in Cambodia, which he called “a terrible burden for your country”
through UNDP assistance and bilateral cooperation.
Cambodia’s demining has progressed remarkably since the early 1990s.
The casualties of mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) have dropped from 800
cases per year to now 100 cases, said the Deputy Prime Minister. Cambodia has
sent its demining experts, under the UN umbrella, to Sudan and Lebanon, he
said.
Australia is, through UNESCO, also supporting Cambodia’s Heritage Management
Framework, including a tourism management plan that is intended to contribute
to sustainable development and to ensure that heritage is better preserved and
understood in the sharply growing tourism sector. The Framework also includes
structural, monumental, environmental and socio-cultural risk maps.
Senator Carr, who paid his first visit to Siem Reap on Sunday, said
he was impressed by Angkor as a symbol of “the overlap of cultures”, rather
than “the clash of civilisations”.
He said that Australia is pleased to be helping in the development of
pro-poor tourism, as advocated by the Siem Reap governor, His Excellency Sou
Phirum, as well as to structure tourist visits so that there is no degradation
of Cambodia’s priceless assets.
Last month, a very successful workshop on the Heritage Management
Framework project brought tourist agents and operators and hoteliers together
to discuss these issues with Siem Reap provincial administrators and the Apsara
Authority.
Cambodia received nearly 3 million tourists last year and that figure
expects to increase by 20 percent a year. South Korean tourism is ranked
second, after Vietnam, and China is third.
