In Cambodia, the survivors of acid violence usually don’t see the prompt trial, sentencing, and imprisonment of their attacker. In most cases the suspect is never arrested, let alone convicted. Survivors are left with permanent physical and mental scars and no hope for justice and legal redress.
[T]he ECCC provides an exquisite opportunity for Cambodians to witness the functioning of a Cambodian court that aims to achieve both substantive and procedural justice through the application of international standards and principles. Though fairly endeavoring to respect the rights and dignity of all parties, the ECCC has not lived up to its promise, let alone potential, to consistently apply these standards and procedures.
International Criminal Court (ICC) supporters argue that there is a need to achieve universal ratification so that the majority of mankind will no longer remain outside the protection of the ICC. In the Asia/Pacific region there is a relatively low accession rate of nation states to the Rome Statute. This paper proposes a taxonomy of resistance to ratification in the region, recognizing that in speculating on the reasons for resistance to the ratification of international criminal justice mechanisms—from the local to the global—across Asia and the Pacific, there is a risk in both over emphasizing cultural and political difference and at the same time seeking universal themes at the expense of real jurisdictional peculiarities. After sketching this taxonomy, the paper in part meets the paradox that in Africa and South America, where similar features of possible resistance exist, the ratification process has been much more widespread.
This article comprises three essays by young Cambodian women reflecting on their family members’ experiences under the Khmer Rouge regime and reactions to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal’s efforts to bring to justice the surviving senior leaders and those most responsible for the crimes of that era.
The April 2013 collapse of the Rena Plaza factory building near Dhaka, Bangladesh, that killed more than 1,100 workers—the highest fatality count in the history of garment factory disasters— has brought the issue of poor working conditions and low labor standards in developing countries again into the spotlight.