Worth the Effort? Assessing the Khmer Rouge Tribunal

Diane Orentlicher, Worth the Effort? Assessing the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, J. Int'l Crim. Just, Forthcoming

American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2021-01

23 Pages Posted: 7 Feb 2020 Last revised: 12 Mar 2021

See all articles by Diane Orentlicher

Diane Orentlicher

American University - Washington College of Law

Date Written: 2020

Abstract

Every international war crimes court has attracted controversy, but none more than the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Now in its twilight years, the ECCC has sparked robust debate since the late 1990s, before it was even launched. During negotiations aimed at creating the court, governments, United Nations (UN) officials, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) debated whether a tribunal acceptable to Cambodia would be worthy of UN support. More than thirteen years after it began operating, the fulcrum of debate today is whether the ECCC was ‘worth the effort’ it has required. There is scant debate about its flaws, above all the Cambodian government’s brazen interference in case selection. More difficult to assess — and the focus of this Article — is whether the ECCC’s performance has justified the risks the UN knowingly assumed when it agreed to create the tribunal in partnership with Cambodia.

Keywords: ECCC, Khmer Rouge, Cambodia, Transitional Justice

Suggested Citation

Orentlicher, Diane, Worth the Effort? Assessing the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (2020). Diane Orentlicher, Worth the Effort? Assessing the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, J. Int'l Crim. Just, Forthcoming, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2021-01, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3519236 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3519236

Diane Orentlicher (Contact Author)

American University - Washington College of Law ( email )

4300 Nebraska Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016
United States

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