The Politicisation of Hybrid Courts: Observations from the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
International Criminal Law Review, 14(1), 115-147
22 Pages Posted: 21 Mar 2015
Date Written: 2014
Abstract
The use of ‘hybrid’ tribunals as a means to secure accountability for international crimes seeks to combine national ownership over the trials whilst providing a framework for the inclusion of international standards and personnel in the proceedings. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) represents one such hybrid experiment. Yet the ECCC has faced recurring allegations of political interference - allegations which are substantial and create, at the least, an appearance of impropriety. The failure of the ECCC and United Nations to adequately address these allegations derived from a hybrid model that did not provide sufficient safeguards against interference. The international community agreed on a solution to secure accountability with awareness that the trials were likely to be politically tainted. As such, the experiment in Cambodia provides a cautionary tale for the future design of hybrid tribunals.
Keywords: hybrid tribunals, political interference, judicial independence, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, ECCC, international criminal law, international criminal justice, international crime, Khmer Rouge, genocide, Cambodia, graft
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