Closing Speech by H.E Sok An,
Senior Minister, Minister in Charge of the Council of Ministers
Follow-Up Experts' Conference on the International Criminal Court
Intercontinental Hotel, Phnom Penh, 10 October 2002
On behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia, I wish to thank the assembled speakers and participants from some twenty countries for selecting Cambodia as the host for this Conference where you have spent two days in serious discussion on issues relating to the establishment and functioning of the International Criminal Court.
The year 2002 marks the historic moment in which the peoples of the world decided to take the bold step of establishing a permanent court for the trial and punishment of the most serious crimes known to humanity: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and, it is hoped later also to exercise its jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. It took more than half a century for the collective courage of the peoples of the world to be mustered to turn the proposal into a treaty in 1998, and then another four years for the next step to turn the Statute of Rome into reality, bringing the International Criminal Court into being on 1 July of this year. We pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people around the world, some of whom are with us today, whose collective effort made this possible.
As Samdech Prime Minister stated in his opening remarks, our small country of 13 million people is proud to be among those 60 countries whose ratification brought the International Criminal Court into being. Samdech Hun Sen took the opportunity of this Conference being held here in Cambodia to state our readiness to play an active and responsible role in the establishment and functioning of the International Criminal Court, as we have done in the campaign to secure its ratification. Specifically, we are prepared to play our part in making the International Criminal Court a reality by contributing the necessary human resources, and we look forward to discussing the most appropriate posts for which Cambodia should propose its candidate or candidates.
Alongside the pride and honour of being among the founding States Party of the International Criminal Court, one of only three countries in Asia, and the only one in Southeast Asia, and of being, the host of this important Conference, the people of Cambodia have several other reasons for feeling that it is appropriate for us to continue to play an active role in the International Criminal Court. Above all, this is because we Cambodians carry with us until today the wounds and pain from experiencing all of the crimes that form the concern of the International Criminal Court, including genocide. We still taste the bitterness of these crimes, and our society is even now suffering their consequences as we struggle to rebuild and restore its fabric twenty-three years later.
The legacy of these crimes weighs heavily on our minds at this time, for over the past two weeks Cambodians have been observing, our annual Pchum Ben ritual, in which we offer remembrance and respect to the memory of those who have passed away. Some of our international participants were able today to visit the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide, and so to gain a closer understanding of this bitter history of our country. By our presence here today we say that we have not forgotten those victims, and that we will dedicate ourselves to ensuring that future generations will not suffer as they did.
Since emerging from the genocidal experience in 1979 Cambodia has had to find ways to deal with the aftermath. We have reconstructed our society from zero; we have reintegrated formerly conflicting forces, and achieved national reconciliation, so that our country is finally at peace for the first time in our contemporary history, in particular for more than thirty years. At the same time we have constantly been seeking le-al accountability for the grave crimes committed. Within months of overthrowing the Khmer Rouge regime, the government began work oil a tribunal in which two principal leaders were tried and convicted of genocide. International jurists worked with us on this first attempt to deal with the genocide in a legal way. This effort has continued unabated, and just one year ago our National Assembly passed the Law on the Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea, which determined to prosecute "senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea and those who were most responsible for the crimes and serious violations of Cambodian penal law, international humanitarian law and custom, and international conventions recognized by Cambodia, that were committed during the period from 17 April 1975 to 6 January 1979". This law resulted from the collective effort of Cambodians and legal advisers from the United Nations and other countries including France, United States, Russia, India and Australia, and is the first of its kind. The Extraordinary Chambers within the courts of Cambodia will include both Cambodian and foreign judges, prosecutors and staff, with carefully worked out formulae to ensure a balance between them, respecting the principle of national sovereignty and at the same tin-ie adhering to internationally acceptable standards of justice, carried out within the framework of maintaining peace, political stability and national unity. Cambodia, as the State Part with primary obligation to prosecute under Article 6 of the Genocide Convention, wishes to work together with the international community to make certain this trial meets internationally acceptable standards.
In establishing, our Extraordinary Chambers, we have striven to conform to the principle of complementarity, enshrined in the preamble of the Statute of Rome, which seeks to reconcile the principles of national sovereignty and universality. Complementarity is also expressed in the Statute of Rome's concerns that the International Criminal Court should have geographic and gender balance, as well as representing the principal legal system of the world, including as our delegate from the Marshall Islands reminded us yesterday,, the ancient and pre-colonial systems of Asia and the Pacific.
Cambodia stands out in our region for a number of provisions in our Constitution, adopted in 1993. The preamble explicitly guarantees human rights and Article 31 state our recognition and respect for human rights as expressed in the Charter of the United Nations, and Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all the treaties and conventions relating to human rights and the rights of women and children. Further, Article 32 of our Constitution specifically prohibits the death penalty.
Over the past ten years, Cambodia has engaged in a serious effort to reform our legal and judicial systems, including revising the fundamental legal codes and upgrading our human resources, notably through the establishment earlier this year of the Royal School for judges and Prosecutors. Our experience in this reform process can serve us in good stead as we play our part in various fora of the international legal infrastructure.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
Allow me to make several observations on the distinguishing features of the International Criminal Court. In addition to its permanent nature, it is characterised by non-retroactivity and by its preventive dimension, which make it radically different from the previous international tribunals at Nuremberg and Tokyo, established in the wake of the Second World War, or more recently the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda established in the 1990s, and the Extraordinary Chambers within the courts of Cambodia, which provide for foreign participation.
Each of these ad hoc tribunals was created individually, after the massacres took place. After a half century in which more than 250 wars and conflicts have produced millions upon millions of victims, the entry into force of the Statute of Rome is an advance for the respect of human rights and the promotion of international humanitarian law, permitting the international community to have at its disposal riot only the instrument of armed force, as expressed through decisions of the Security Council, but also the instrument of justice, as expressed through the International Criminal Court. This new instrument will in the future become an effective weapon of law.
By its signature of the Statute of Rome on 23 October 2000, and ratification earlier this year, the Kingdom of Cambodia solemnly affirms its determination to contribute to the promotion of human rights and international humanitarian law, in conformity with the noble principles expressed in its Constitution.
The International Criminal Court, when it is firmly established, will henceforth enable humanity more effectively to prevent barbarism, by prosecuting the perpetrators, who too often in the past have gone unpunished, of the most heinous crimes and grave violations "of concern to the international community as a whole", in cases where the state concerned is unwilling or unable to do so. Furthermore, the voluntary acceptance by states of their obligation to cooperate with the Court will itself play a significant preventive role.
The previous session, moderated by the Honorary Chairman of the Centre for Restorative justice in Asia, brought to our attention the major conclusions of the Working Groups dealing with Immunities, National sovereignty, Arrest and surrender, Other forms of assistance, Sentences and imprisonment, Enforcement of fines, forfeiture, reparations, Substantive criminal law and Jurisdiction, and the Conference Chairman has presented his overall report.
We look forward to seeing the translation into reality of the results of these two days of deliberations by such an esteemed body of experts. We trust that this Conference will serve to motivate those countries which have not yet signed or ratified the Statute of Rome to join us as States Party, and will help Galvanise those who brought the International Criminal Court into being to continue to devote their efforts to establishing the court on a sound and viable basis.
In conclusion, I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all those who made this Conference possible. Firstly, to our sponsors: the governments of Canada, Germany, France, Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden; the organisation No Peace Without Justice, and our partner as Conference Organiser, the Centre for Restorative justice in Asia.
Secondly, I would like to give my personal thanks to the Organising Committee, chaired by H.E. Sum Manit, Secretary of State of the Council of Ministers. I know that many of our civil servants, accompanied by overseas advisers, worked long and hard over recent months in cooperation with the Philippine organisers led by Ms Cristina Gates.
To the speakers and participants - many thanks for your valuable input and the care you gave to your contributions. Thank you to all, and may I wish you all the best for your journey home, and I hope that you are also able visit Angkor -- one of the wonders of the world.