Demand for ECCC Inventory and 24 Provincial Learning Centers/Memorials

CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND ECCC INVENTORY

(e.g. Office Equipment) to furnish

PROVINCIAL LEARNING CENTERS/MEMORIALS

of KR VICTIMS/SURVIVORS

. . . . .

We, the Civil Parties in the Extraordinary Chambers (ECCC or Khmer Rouge Tribunal), are laying a prior claim to the office equipment of the ECCC, worth in the millions of U.S. dollars, immediately after the Tribunal closes operations. We have learned the lessons of UNTAC and the “disappearance” of expensive equipment into illegitimate possessions/hands after its operations, and thus will be sending out public announcements regularly, inter alia, on this matter of ECCC inventory.

Meeting of Officers of the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia (AKRVC), presided by AKRVC founder and current president Ms. Theary C. Seng, with presence of CJR acting Director Sok Leang, international Fellows from Germany and Washington, DC as well as Civicus-CJR Youth Ambassador (and movie star!) Amy Kim Thangdy (Civicus-CJR headquarters, Phnom Penh, 1 Dec. 2010).

Victims/Survivors—including Mr. and Mrs. SENG Chen An who returned via Peking in 1976 at the call of then-Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and survived Bung Trabek Detention Center (and the Dangrek Mountain genocide!)— visiting from Paris who join in demanding for ECCC inventory and Provincial Learning Centers/Memorials for all victims of the Khmer Rouge regime (Phnom Penh, 1 Dec. 2010).

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Civil Party of Orphans Class Demands ECCC Inventory and Provincial Learning Centers
as Part of Their Right to Reparations for All KR Victims

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PRESS RELEASE
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PHNOM PENH, 23 July 2010: The Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia (“Victims Association”)—the first Cambodia-based association to be officially registered with the Ministry of Interior and the first to be officially recognized by the Victims Support Section of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (“ECCC”)—demands that the inventory of the ECCC be given to victims after it has closed operations and that Learning Centers in all 24 provinces of Cambodia be established and furnished with this inventory. The Civil Party of Orphans Class, a sub-group within the Victims Association, has the right to reparations as a party to the ECCC criminal proceeding against the senior Khmer Rouge leaders, should they be found guilty.

After initial review of the ECCC website and communications with ECCC officials, it is our understanding that the ECCC has at minimum these basic items of inventory for its 500 personnel (350 of these Cambodian):

• 24 vehicles
• 200 desktop and laptop computers
• 25 photocopy machines
• 50 printers and scanners
• Telecommunications and communications systems (property of UN, according to Art. 1.3 of Supplementary Agreement Re Utilities, Facilities and Services)
• Air conditioners
• Televisions, screens, LCD projectors, video-conferencing equipments
• Transcription equipments
• Video cameras
• Office desks, chairs, tables, cabinets, bookshelves

It is also our understanding that (i) the Chambers may award only “collective and moral reparations to Civil Parties”, (ii) Article 39 of the ECCC Law to “be awarded against, and be borne by convicted persons” not to exclude the Cambodian government and the United Nations, parties to the laws and agreements establishing the ECCC in the provision of this collective and moral reparation as owners of the inventory (see ECCC Law Art. 44.1, 44.2, 44.4 New; Internal Rules 9.3 New), and (iii) any sensitive materials and data can be easily removed and protected before the handing over of the inventory.

Here, we would like to draw the attention of HE SOK An, Mr. Sean Visoth and his replacement Mr. Tony Kranh for the Cambodian government; Mr. Douglas Broderick and Mr. Knut Rosandhaug for the United Nations; and the donor states who are Friends of the ECCC.

In addition, we demand that provincial Learning Centers be established in each of the 24 provinces of Cambodia as part of our right to reparation and the legacy of memorializing and education. With all due respect, Phnom Penh was not the only crime scene; memorializing and resources need to include and respect the 85% of Cambodian victims who reside in the provinces. These provincial Learning Centers must be the joint efforts of local and national government with civil society and all the victims associations. Local government can donate land and office space while civil society and victims associations work to maintain and operate these Learning Centers. The Learning Center being established at Wat Samroung in Battambang with the involvement of the local community, assisted by the Center for Justice & Reconciliation and funded by the Australian Embassy is one existing example. The ECCC documents, the Virtual Tribunal, public forums and outreach materials produced by civil society and victims associations, art works are but some of the materials which can be made available at these provincial Learning Centers. These provincial Learning Centers would be furnished with the above-mentioned equipment and inventory.

Our demand for the ECCC inventory does not burden the ECCC with a new budget as they are items already financed and purchased. No one else has a greater moral and legal right to these equipment and inventory than the civil parties for the welfare of all the victims, including the new generation born after the Khmer Rouge who lost grandparents and other loved ones in addition to limited opportunities produced by the genocide. Moreover, the provincial Learning Centers do not pose a heavy financial burden, if at all, a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the national budget which can easily be legislated by the National Assembly. The benefits which these reparations of inventory and provincial Learning Centers impart toward reconciliation and legacy for the current and future generation are priceless.

We would like to thank the Center for Justice & Reconciliation (“CJR”) for facilitating our establishment and involvement in these public forums, CIVICUS Cambodia for co-organizing this particular forum, as well as the donors The Asia Foundation, the German Development Service and the Australian Embassy of these public forums, victims participation and the Battambang Learning Center.