Difficult Job of the ECCC

ECCC Emblem

About a year ago, I visited the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), also known as the Khmer Rouge Trials. I wrote about the visit and the structure of the Chambers in the post "Khmer Rouge Trials." A few weeks ago, I returned to the ECCC with a group from MCC, including many of the Service Workers, the Myanmar Rep, and this years SALTers and YAMENers.

We drove out during lunch, and sat in to witness the afternoon session. The court is still trying Case 002/02, against Noun Chea and Khieu Samphan for "allegations of genocide against the Muslim Cham and the Vietnamese, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, forced marriages and rape, purges, persecution of Buddhist, as well as other crimes against humanity." The testimony I witnessed during this visit was that of a former Khmer Rouge Cadre, who claims to have been in charge of photography at S-21 prison (now known as Toul Sleng Genocide Museum). He claims to have been in charge of photographing and developing the photographs of prisoners as they were brought into the prison, and of those who died in custody from either sickness or torture. This witness' testimony uncut the testimony of another who claimed to have been in charge of photography at the prison, and this kind of mixed message serves to create doubt as to the chain of command in the Khmer Rouge. For more information on this testimony see this Phnom Penh Post article. 

This testimony is an example of the difficulty faced by those involved in establishing legal guilt or innocence in cases of mass atrocities and breaches of international human rights laws. Not only do specific crimes need to be proven, but the defendants need to be proven as both part of the chain of command and also high enough in it to take the blame for the violations.While it is evident that horrible mass atrocities occurred during the Khmer Rouge Regime, known at Democratic Kampuchea, by the relocation of many citizens of Cambodia and the deaths of about 1.5 million people (out of a population of 7-8 million), establishing the existence of specific crimes under both Cambodian and International law during the period and the guilt of specific leaders if difficult. Almost 40 years has passed since the fall of the regime, and thus much evidence has been lost. Time, trauma, and old age has compromised the credibility of many witness. Some known members of the party have not been called upon to testify. The Chamber's priority in charging those most responsible for the atrocities is made difficult by contradictory accounts and blurry chain of commands, as well as the prerogative to establish what it means to be most responsible. 

Watching this case reminded me that events and history, and guilt and innocence are so often more grey then clear cut black and white. There may never be satisfying answers to what happened, all the causes, and the people involved. Those we view as guilty can almost always find ways to deflect blame. I do not envy the jobs of the judges, or lawyers, for both the defense and the prosecution, in cases of human rights and international law violation such at these. I wish them all the best in discovering and understanding as much of the truth as they can in order to bring a sense of finality and relief to the victims and witnesses of the terrible things that humans are capable of doing to one another.

Visiting the Killing Fields

Stupa at the Killing Fields in Choeung Ek.

As I sat on the bench, looking out across the gravel path at the pond, it could have been easy to forget. It could have been the simplest thing to pretend that this was just what it appeared to be: a beautiful garden, with trees and green space and little chicks running after their mother hens. But the voice in the audio tour around my ears and the shards of bone and cloth poking out of the ground forced me to face reality. This was not a beautiful, peaceful place. This was a place of horror, where thousands of people were brutally murdered. This was a Killing Field.

From 1975-79, Cambodia's government, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, imprisoned and killed anyone seen as a threat to their strict communist ideals. This included, but was not limited to, anyone with connections to the former government or foreign governments, professionals, intellectuals, ethnic and religious minorities, religious leaders, and their families- including children and babies. Over a million people were arrested and many were tortured into confessions. They were then brought to what we now call Killing Fields, where they were blindfolded with their hands behind their backs, made to kneel next to a pit that would be their graves, and then bashed in the back of the head and neck until they were dead.

After the Khmer Rouge fell from power, these Killing Fields, covered in mass graves, were discovered by the public. The graves were excavated so that the victims could be buried with dignity, in the Buddhist tradition. Still today though, they are still finding fragments bones and clothing scattered throughout these mass killing and burial sites.

One of the first things I did upon arriving in Cambodia, was visit the Killing Field in Choeung Ek, which has been establish as a memorial to those who were killed under Pol Pot's regime. It was a chilling and heart breaking visit to say the least. It was a reminder of why I am interested in the work that I do. Humans, despite their great ability for love and compassion, can, and have over and over again throughout history, enacted horrors upon each other for little or no reason. I hope that the work I do can contribute to a world where events like this one will never take place again.

I remember and pray for the victims of genocide and war and injustice in Cambodia and throughout the world. I pray for all those who have been effected by such devastation. And I pray that we all work towards a world where such things are unimaginable.