Cambodian Tribunal Needs More Money

Judges with the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal look on during
proceedings, Monday, Dec. 3, 2007, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. With five
former Khmer Rouge leaders in custody awaiting trial, three decades
after their murderous communist regime tumbled from power, Cambodia's
U.N.-backed genocide tribunal can credibly boast that it is on the
road to justice. The tribunal is appealing for more money on top of
its originally budgeted US$56.3 million (euro38 million), saying a
heavy workload means that its operation, originally meant to end in
2009, has to be extended through 2010. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)


Cambodian Tribunal Needs More Money
By KER MUNTHIT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- With five former leaders of the Khmer
Rouge finally in custody awaiting trial -- three decades after their
murderous regime tumbled from power -- Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide
tribunal can credibly say it is on the road to justice.

But its future hinges on the generosity of foreign aid donors who,
responding to reports of alleged corruption and mismanagement by
tribunal officials, are demanding greater accountability before
agreeing to give more money.

The process took a big step forward last month when Kaing Guek Eav,
the head of a notorious torture center, became the first major Khmer
Rouge figure to appear as a defendant in a public courtroom, appealing
unsuccessfully for release on bail.

He and four other suspects -- Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith and
Khieu Samphan -- are being held in the tribunal's custom-built jail,
awaiting trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

But the tribunal says more work is needed to get to full-fledged
trials to establish responsibility for the deaths of some 1.7 million
Cambodians under the communist Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s.

The tribunal is appealing for an unspecified additional sum on top of
its budgeted $56.3 million, saying a heavy workload means that its
operation, originally supposed to end in 2009, has to be extended
through 2010.

Peter Foster, a U.N.-appointed spokesman for the tribunal, said the
present funds may run out in about six months due to unanticipated
costs.

"We're not talking about buying fleets of Mercedes and helicopters;
we're talking about essential elements of an international court," he
said.

For instance, said Helen Jarvis, the tribunal's Australian public
affairs chief, the court needs to increase the number of translators
to 40 from the current 14, and to create victim support and court
transcription services.

Donors raised concerns after two U.N. reports this year painted a
troubling picture of the tribunal's administration.

One of them, sidestepping allegations of corruption, accused the
Cambodian side of serious mismanagement.

The other found problems in sharing responsibilities between Cambodian
and foreign personnel, operating under Cambodian law.

To win more funding, the tribunal must show it can function
"efficiently and devoid of corruption," David Scheffer, a former U.S.
war crimes ambassador and a professor at the Northwestern University
School of Law in Chicago, said in an e-mail.

"The worst-case scenario is that the international staff and
administration would have to pull out and the trials would proceed in
a strictly Cambodian-staffed court," he said.

Joseph Mussomeli, the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, said the United
States, which did not contribute to the original budget, is
considering whether to pitch in. Washington harbors widely shared
doubts about the competence and impartiality of Cambodia's courts.

"It would simply be irresponsible to suggest using American taxpayer
money until we're sure that the administrative process is also fixed,"
he said.

The corruption issue arose this year when a New York-based legal
group, Open Society Justice Initiative, alleged that Cambodians had to
pay kickbacks to government officials for tribunal jobs.

In a country where corruption is a way of life and most civil servants
earn only about $25 a month, the tribunal jobs are lucrative. Even at
half of the gross salaries earned by their U.N.-appointed
counterparts, Cambodian staffers with professional duties get $2,300
to $5,280 a month ? paid from donors' contributions.

Jarvis rejected the corruption allegations as "more of a rumor," and a
June audit by the U.N. Development Program produced no evidence of
kickbacks, though it said many Cambodian staffers had been hired
without meeting even minimum job qualifications.

Another U.N. report, also from June, charged that the dual structure
of Cambodian and U.N. administrators "serves only to constantly
hinder, frequently confuse and certainly frustrate efforts" to render
justice.

It said the relationship between officials on both sides has "somewhat
evolved into a 'we versus they camp.'"

Because the Cambodian and international staffs maintain separate
budgets, the paperwork doubles.

"When you're working on something as important as this, you don't want
to be spending your time worrying who's supposed to sign your phone
bill," spokesman Foster said.

The tribunal will approach donors with a "pretty complete package" of
progress and actions taken to fix the problems, he said. With five
suspects behind bars awaiting trial, he can't imagine the tribunal
folding for lack of funds.

"It's too late at this point, no matter what happens, to stop," he said.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press