On the Job! ECCC civil party lead lawyer

(On the Job! pays occasional notice to interesting intlaw job notices)

The United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is seeking a consultant to serve as International Civil Party Lead Co-Lawyer, a newly created position within the Civil Party Lead Co-Lawyers' Section of UNAKRT's Office of Administration.
The successful applicant will serve in tandem with a National Lead Co-Lawyer; they will have autonomy on substantive matters pertaining to civil parties. Specific Civil Party Lawyers will continue to represent specific civil parties before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and will support the Civil Party Lead Co-Lawyers. (As part of IntLawGrrls' ongoing Khmer Rouge accountability series, guest/alumna Sarah Thomas posted here about civil party participation at the ECCC).
As a general matter, the Lead Co-Lawyers will:
► Represent the interests of the consolidated group of Civil Parties, and
► Shoulder ultimate responsibility to the ECCC for the overall advocacy, strategy and in-court presentation of the interests of the consolidated group of civil parties, during the trial stage and beyond.
A detailed pdf account of expected duties and desired qualifications (among them, a minimum of 10 years' experience in the practice of criminal law and fluency in French or English) is available here.
The position is expected to be filled this year, before the beginning of the next ECCC trial, and to continue throughout appeals and conduct of any other proceedings. Deadline for applications is May 1, 2010.

Read On! About Khmer Rouge Trials

(Read On! ... occasional posts on writing we're reading)

I've just had the chance to review a great new volume on the proceedings before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia edited by John Ciorciari (below right) and Anne Hendel (right) entitled On Trial: The Khmer Rouge Accountability Process.
John just joined the faculty of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the University of Michigan after spending some time with the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University. After serving as Assistant Director of the War Crimes Research Office at American University, Anne, an IntLawGrrls guest/alumna, joined the Documentation Center of Cambodia as a full time legal advisor. (John also advises the Center). Both have been long-time Cambodia watchers, and this book is the culmination of their work in this area to date.
Both Ann and John have chapters in the book, and they are joined other foreign and Cambodian researchers exploring these topics. In addition to providing a useful overview of the Extraordinary Chambers in terms of structure and procedure, the book covers several topics that remain central to the success and legitimacy of the ECCC's proceedings:

1. The History and Politics Behind the Khmer Rouge Trials


2. The Jurisprudence of the Extraordinary Chambers


3. Court Administration at the ECCC


4. Including the Survivors in the Tribunal Process


5. The ECCC’s Role in Reconciliation

The jurisprudence chapter encapsulates much of the complex pre-trial rulings to date concerned with pre-trial detention, forms of detention, double jeopardy, translation duties, the validity of the amnesty law, and fitness to stand trial. The material on victim participation (featured throughout the book) is especially compelling, as the ECCC is well ahead of other tribunals in terms of providing victims with participatory rights. That chapter's authors, IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Sarah Thomas and Terith Chy, have direct experience with victim issues. (Terith heads DC-Cam's Victim Participation Project). The chapter on Court Administration, by Chapman University School of Law Professor John Hall, takes on the corruption allegations that have dogged the tribunal to date. The final chapter situates the ECCC within the larger imperatives of transitional justice in the Cambodian context.
Original photographs, some dating from the Khmer rouge period, grace the book throughout and are reason enough to click on the link below.

The full monograph is available here.

Some further praise for the book:

This invaluable collection of essays, sponsored by the Cambodian NGO that has pioneered research on the Khmer Rouge era, provides a wealth of information about the so-called Khmer Rouge Tribunal. On Trial is accessible, well researched, and passionately engaged with the innumerable tragedies of the Khmer Rouge period. Its authors argue that the ongoing trials may possibly lead toward deeper reconciliation and certainly a deeper knowledge of what happened throughout the country in those horrific years.

–Dr. David P. Chandler, Professor Emeritus of History at Monash University, Australia, and renowned historian of Cambodia

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal is profoundly important to Cambodians and non-Cambodians around the world. It excites passion, arouses controversy, and offers to many victims the hope of justice too long delayed. This timely and essential book provides an excellent overview of the Tribunal, a thoughtful review of its progress to date, and sensible suggestions on how it can best meet its obligations to the Cambodian people and the international community.

–Dr. Sophal Ear, Assistant Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and survivor of Democratic Kampuchea

This book of essays will take an important place among the many books and articles written about the recent history of Cambodia and particularly the Khmer Rouge period. It provides a useful historical and intellectual context for the trials currently underway before the ECCC. For observers and academics its most useful sections may prove to be those that analyse the law, jurisprudence and procedures governing the trials and the many issues that this unique Tribunal has overcome and has yet to resolve. DC-Cam has again assisted in the vital task of providing the public with information that helps unravel the tragic puzzle of how to deal with the aftermath of Democratic Kampuchea.

–Judge Silvia Cartwright, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Civil Party Participation at the ECCC

Drawing on French-inspired Cambodian criminal procedure, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia allows victims of the Khmer Rouge to participate directly in the proceedings as civil parties. Having worked with DC-Cam for nine months, I have had the opportunity to follow at first-hand the exciting developments in the area of victim participation. By and large, the Court has been very supportive of such participation. In a Decision of March 20th, for example, the Pre-Trial Chamber (pictured at right) adopted an expansive interpretation of the civil parties’ right to participate, stating that the Court’s Internal Rules are “clear in [their] wording that Civil Parties can participate in all criminal proceedings…” and that “Civil Parties have active rights to participate starting from the investigative stage…” (para. 36). Victims’ rights advocates welcomed this decision, hailing it a “landmark decision.”
Thus, it came as a surprise that, during the hearing on Ieng Sary’s appeal against provisional detention (pictured at left), the very same Pre-Trial Chamber recently established a worrying precedent for direct victim participation. On July 1st and 2nd, the Judges issued oral decisions prohibiting civil parties – whether represented or unrepresented – from speaking in person during pre-trial appeals. Based on a narrow provision failing to anticipate the participation of unrepresented civil parties, these decisions contradict the general principle that civil parties may participate without a lawyer. Internal Rule 23(7) provides that “[a]ny Victim participating in proceedings before the ECCC as a Civil Party has the right to be represented by a national lawyer, or a foreign lawyer in collaboration with a national lawyer…” Therefore, the Judges’ decisions were not in accordance with the Rules.
It appears that this sea change in the Chamber’s attitude can be attributed to multiple attempts by one civil party to speak during the proceedings. Worryingly, the Judges appear to have denied her requests based upon their disinclination to hear from her, rather than upon a correct reading of the Rules. The civil party in question (pictured at right) had already addressed the bench during an earlier hearing, using the opportunity to advertise a book! At the recent hearing, after the Judges denied her request to speak as a represented civil party, she promptly dismissed her lawyer and requested that she be heard as an unrepresented civil party. The Judges once again refused her request, seemingly irritated by her repeated attempts to speak. Eventually, she stormed out of the courtroom, vowing not to return until “[she has] a voice.”
Undoubtedly, the civil party raised an important issue regarding the direct participation of civil parties. Despite seeking to further victims’ rights, she has done victims a great disservice by demanding a robust scheme for civil party participation so early in the proceedings. Albeit limited to pre-trial appeals, unrepresented civil parties will now be precluded from speaking in person. The Judges had – until this time – adopted a very progressive approach. When, however, the civil party sought to force their hand, the Judges responded negatively, restricting opportunities for direct participation for all civil parties. As victim participation before internationalized tribunals remains in its nascent stage, civil parties and their lawyers should give greater consideration to the impact of their strategies so as to avoid exacerbating the Judges’ concerns about the disruption caused by the civil party procedure.

Guest Blogger: Sarah Thomas

IntLawGrrls are pleased to welcome today guest blogger Sarah Thomas (pictured at right). Sarah posts above on the recent controversy that arose in the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), aka the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, in one of the first efforts of a civil party to communicate in court. We've posted here about civil party participation at the ECCC, a development that appears promising but, as Sarah notes, is not without its potential pitfalls. We are lucky to have Sarah providing an on-the ground-perspective; as the David W. Leebron International Human Rights Fellow working at the Documentation Center of Cambodia's Victim Participation Project, she is uniquely well-positioned to analyze this development. Sarah is a 2007 graduate of Columbia Law School, where she was an Articles Editor for the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law and a recipient of the Parker School Certificate in Recognition of Achievement in International and Comparative Law as well as a Kent Scholar. Sarah's experience in the field of international criminal law includes internships at the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. She received her Bachelor of Laws degree from the London School of Economics and has also lived in China and Japan. Heartfelt welcome!