A letter from Cambodia

The Communist Party of Kampuchea, better known as the Khmer Rouge, took power of Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 and was overthrown on 7 January 1979. These three years, eight months and twenty days of ruling by the totalitarian party have been remembered primarily for the social engineering that took place and the deaths caused by this policy.

In the late nineties, the Cambodian government requested the United Nations (UN) for assistance in establishing a trial to prosecute the senior leaders of the party. International participation was requested due to the weakness of the national legal system and the international nature of the crimes. This resulted in the establishment of the (ECCC). The ECCC has a hybrid nature: a domestic court with international participation that will apply international standards. It was designed in order to provide a new role model for future court operations in Cambodia.

At the time the Khmer Rouge was ruling Cambodia, I was not even born. In fact, the party invaded Phnom Penh exactly ten years before my day of birth. When I was offered the possibility of doing an internship at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea (ECCC), it felt as a unique opportunity to become (a very small) part of Cambodian history. Being a graduated ICC-student I did not hesitate for a single moment and as a result, by the time of writing, I am in Phnom Penh.

The Khmer Rouge regime’s attempt at extreme agricultural reform allegedly resulted in many victims of murder, torture, and starvation. However, even after several decades, uncertainty remains on the exact number of the victims caused by the Khmer Rouge regime. This is one of the main issues I was assigned to perform research on by one of the defense teams of the ECCC. Obviously, doing (quantitative) research on events that occurred more than thirty years ago renders huge methodological problems; many of which hardly to overcome. The assignment is therefore very challenging.

My time here at the tribunal has already been incredibly informative. One of the highlights so far has been my attendance of a court session on the alleged commander of the notorious Khmer Rouge’s torture center S-21. Being so close to the making of history while so far away from home was an extraordinary experience. Not only have I learned much more already about the Khmer Rouge period, it is the first time that I can use my criminological insights in a working environment. Unfortunately, due to confidentiality issues, I cannot go into detail about my activities here. What I can say though, is that the critical view that I have adopted during the ICC-master, is very valuable. However, the most important thing I have experienced so far is that academic knowledge is one thing; actually putting it into practice is another, especially in a third world country such as Cambodia.

Eva van der Reijden
Former ICC-student (VU University, Amsterdam)
September 2009