MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Smith
I am pleased to announce a further $5 million Australian contribution to the United Nations (UN) for
the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), also known as the Khmer Rouge
Tribunal.
I advised Cambodia's Ambassador for Australia, Meas Kim Heng, of this contribution today.
Under an agreement between the United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodia, the ECCC
will conduct trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders charged with crimes against humanity during the
1975-1979 period, in which it is estimated up three million people perished under the Khmer Rouge
regime.
In 1997 the then newly formed Cambodian Government requested UN assistance in establishing a trial
process to prosecute the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge. The Cambodian National Assembly in
2001 passed a law to create a Court to try serious crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge regime.
This court is called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of
Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea (Extraordinary Chambers or ECCC).
While the court was created by the Cambodian Government and UN, the ECCC is independent and
will provide a new model for court operations in Cambodia.
Australia has been a long-term supporter of Cambodia's efforts to bring Khmer Rouge leaders to
justice.
This new funding will support the United Nations' contribution to the work of the ECCC over the
next two years. Australia has previously provided over $4 million towards the ECCC's operations.
There has been significant progress since the ECCC began its work, with five individuals charged and
held in provisional detention awaiting trial.
The ECCC provides an historic opportunity to achieve justice for the victims of the brutal Khmer
Rouge regime.
Australia urges Cambodia and the international community to intensify their cooperative efforts to
ensure that the trials are completed in a timely manner and according to internationally acceptable
standards of justice, fairness and due legal process.