PHNOM PENH, 3 September 2013 – The Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia, His Excellency Yuji Kumamaru, has considered the request by Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Sok An to save the current critical situation, work suspension of the national staff, faced by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
One of the principal problems of the ECCC is the continuing financial problem, especially the shortage of budget on the national side, which is still short US$2.9 million of its $9.4 million budget for 2013.
The Cambodian staff, including interpreters and translators, have suspended their work because their wages have not been paid since June.
The Japanese Ambassador agreed to the Deputy Prime Minister’s request, but neither side mentioned a figure.
This year Japan has made no financial contribution to the national side of the court because the Japanese government has already made the pledge to the international side of the court, said Yuji Kumamaru.
However, Japan would seek a way to have some of the funds that Tokyo contributed to the international side of the ECCC to pay up front for the Cambodian side of the court.
“We want to see the court succeed”, said the Ambassador.
Japan, the largest donor of the ECCC, has contributed $78.7 million to the court – $62.6 to the international side and $16.1 million to the national side. Tokyo’s contribution represents about 44 percent of the total funding of the court.
The Ambassador said the ECCC needs support from a broader spectrum rather than relying on a few donors.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on 28 August for more international donations to the tribunal, warning that its “very survival” is in question.
“Financial failure would be a tragedy for the people of Cambodia, who have waited for so long for justice. It would also be a severe blow to our shared commitment to international justice”, said Ban Ki-moon in his remarks in The Hague.
Dr. Sok An, who is the Chairman of the Royal Government Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials, said that a joint mission by David Scheffer, the Secretary-General’s Special Expert on United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials and Secretary of State Keo Remy, a Cambodian government representative, toured five capitals of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in an effort to raise funds for national side of the court, but no pledges have yet been made.
An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died under the Khmer Rouge regime due to forced labour, starvation, medical neglect and execution committed by the Khmer Rouge from 17 April 1975 to 6 January 1979.