As one of the only Asian countries to sign onto the International Criminal Court, Cambodia will nominate some of its own judges to serve in the new world body, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Wednesday.
“Cambodia is ready to send its judges as candidates of the International Criminal Court and expects the support from all the member states for this initiative,” Hun Sen said in opening remarks to a regional conference on issues related to the court. The conference concludes today in Phnom Penh.
Launched in July, the court is first permanent international body to adjudicate genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity. Cambodia, Mongolia and Tajikistan are the only Asian countries to ratify the court so far.
“Peace, security and well-being cannot be sustained and stabilized without justice,” Hun Sen said, urging other nations to sign the treaty. Few details were available Wednesday on how Cambodia would nominate its judges. The court eventually will have 18 judges elected by country members. The treaty establishing the court directs countries to aim for a fair geographic distribution of judges. With so few Asian ratifiers, Cambodian judges may have a “pretty good chance” of being elected, said Darryl Robinson, a lawyer in Canada’s foreign affairs department.
But the treaty also calls for judges to have extensive experience and demonstrated competence in criminal and international law. The Cambodian legal system is notorious for its poorly qualified and biased judges.
Hun Sen’s speech made no reference to the long-delayed tribunal of Khmer Rouge leaders. Negotiations with the UN for establishing the tribunal broke down in February.
The court only has jurisdiction over crimes committed after it was established, so the Khmer Rouge atrocities are not covered, observed Ang Vong Vanthana, secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice. “This was the past and with the establishment of the ICC, we are now building the future,” he said in a speech Wednesday.
But he also noted that “the late confrontation of Cambodia with genocide—and this is an exception in Asia—has, for sure, furthered the Cambodian awareness of the usefulness of an international criminal tool independent from national and international political and economical issues.”
Other Asian officials worried that the court could impinge on national sovereignty.
“Our concern is that prosecution could be motivated by political reasons, for example,” said Lao foreign affairs official Boupheng Saykanya.
