Government and UN officials on Friday uttered some of the most upbeat language to date in the negotiating process on how to try former leaders of the Khmer Rouge movement.
On the first formal day of talks between a UN team and a government task force, both sides deemed the process a “positive and constructive” one. Over the last year of talks on how to conduct the trial, the rhetoric has been much more strident, with each side chastising the other for its inability to reach a deal.
On Friday, Hans Corell, UN undersecretary general for legal affairs, said much of the gap between the two sides has narrowed.
“We have a better mutual understanding. The misunderstandings of the past have been reduced,” Corell said.
Although he was reluctant to discuss which issues still remain unresolved, he did say the government and the UN still plan to talk about which judges will hold a majority in the trial.
Each side wants to appoint a majority of judges on the court, and UN-government talks here in August broke down because this issue could not be resolved. Yet last fall, the US State Department introduced a “super-majority” plan where no matter which side has the most judges, both sides’ votes would be required to make a ruling.
Corell has not been clear whether the UN favors the “super-majority” plan or not. In a memo he sent the government late last year, he said it would bring about “paralysis” on the court if the two sides repeatedly disagree.
Minister of Cabinet Sok An also was positive about Friday’s meetings, which were held throughout the day. After the afternoon session, however, he appeared to revert back to language the government used with the UN when talks were more strained.
“We seek clarification…from Mr Corell. Each side will try to give clarification, and each side will try to get clarification,” Sok An said.
Sources close to the negotiations said the picture inside the meeting room might not be quite as upbeat as the public comments, but one added that much more progress is being made than during the talks in August.
Meanwhile, a New York-based human rights group on Friday cautioned the UN not to bend to the Cambodian government if that means relaxing its international standards of justice.
“It’s essential that the UN stand firm in promoting minimum acceptable international standards for a fair trial and for judicial and prosecutorial independence,” read a statement by Ken Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “If the UN compromises these standards in Cambodia, it will set a crippling precedent worldwide that would greatly impair efforts to build an international system of justice.”
The statement referred to “pressure from certain capitals”— namely those in the US, France and Japan, according to news reports from UN headquarters in New York—lobbying the UN to be more flexible with the Cambodian government.
