With the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal prepared to open a major trial for four jailed regime leaders later this month, observers are divided as to whether its completion will be enough to count the court a success.
Massive flooding in Thailand and elsewhere have destroyed large parcels of rice farmland, pushing rice prices up and leaving Southeast Asia at greater risk of a food price shock.
Rights groups and other officials say the government has not gone far enough in drafting a law on acid attacks, by failing to include provisions for the treatment of victims or to ascribe punishments to those who hire attackers. Acid attacks are a common form of retribution in Cambodia, often ordered by powerful men or women and carried out by hired assailants. Rights groups say about half of the draft’s 27 articles need to be improved before the law is passed.
Following the visit of the UN’s top legal representative to Cambodia last week, the Khmer Rouge tribunal is facing increased pressure to regain its credibility, court observers say. Patricia O’Brien, flew to Phnom Penh last week to warn Cambodian officials to refrain from speaking against two cases before the investigating judges. The office of investigating judges is now facing accusations that its judges, Siegfried Blunk and You Bunleng, altered documents for controversial Case 003, among other irregularities
[Editor’s note: Mental trauma remains one of the main issues for Cambodia, a legacy of the Khmer Rouge and the country’s conflicts. Ka Sunbaunat, a psychiatry professor and dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Health Sciences, in Phnom Penh, spoke to VOA Khmer recently
As the Khmer Rouge tribunal grapples with its handling of two controversial cases at the UN-backed court, at least two suspects who could face indictment have kept away from the media and out of the public eye. Sou Met, who oversaw the Khmer Rouge air force and is named as a suspect in Case 003, is currently a major general and adviser to the Ministry of Defense.
Chheang Vannarith is the executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace.