Trauma and Its Aftermath: Local Configurations of Reconciliation in Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal

Zucker, Eve Monique

doi:10.1017/s0021911813001125

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…These low-level perpetrators might have taken up virtuous roles in the community as Buddhist lay officiants or traditional healers, while they younger people born after the Khmer Rouge era would know little of their past and treat them as village elders. 39 Zucker argues that this meritorious action might be a means of redemption in the next life. Zucker's persuasive conclusion is that those like Nuon Chea, 'becomes the repository of blame', whereas for those like Ta Kam 'the blame seems to dissipate'.…”

Section: The Process Of Accountability From the Khmer Rouge Era Onwardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The cloak of impunity in Cambodia II: justice

Eisenbruch

2018

The International Journal of Human Rights

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This article discusses the underpinnings of impunity and justice in Cambodia as the former Khmer Rouge leaders face trial in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). The extent to which the ECCC achieves its goal can only be assessed by understanding the concept of impunity from a Cambodian cultural perspective. In this ethnographic study, the cultural construction of justice is thus examined. The ECCC defendants and those who commit violence today seem to use a similar cultural framework to explain their crimes and expiate them from accountability. Any discussion of accountability, which is the Janus-face of impunitywhether at the ECCC trials or in the public arena todaywill show how perpetrators conform to certain embedded Cambodian beliefs while failing to conform to others. The findings add to our understanding of the cultural footprint of evil and impunity and have implications for attempts to respond to the call for a 'bespoke' form of transitional justice and for a culturally responsive approach to health and human rights.

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Section: The Process Of Accountability From the Khmer Rouge Era Onwardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The cloak of impunity in Cambodia II: justice

Eisenbruch

2018

The International Journal of Human Rights

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“…Toshihiro concludes that these failures have become part of the narrative surrounding the storied history of the courts and moving forward undermines as sense of justice the ECCC can bring for the nation and people of Cambodia. 25 Published in 2013, Alexandra Kent's "Friction and Security at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal" looks at the ECCC and considers the day to day problems that the court face as international justices and their staff faces as they came to Cambodia and work with their national co-workers in the ECCC. Kent uses a concept of "friction" to define global encounters and look at the language, culture, and other aspects of the interaction that may cause harm or benefit.…”

Section: The Failure Of Hybrid Courtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zucker seems to conclude that the future reconciliation of Cambodia will occur one funeral at a time as the members of the Khmer Rouge and their victims die. 27 While these works look at the failure of the ECCC to deliver justice and national reconciliation because of the text or the day to day functions of the court, or perhaps because of the social and cultural reasons they point to the fundamental misstep of the UN and Cambodian government in attempting to present the ECCC as a tool to deliver justice and national reconciliation, as stated in the goals of the 2003 agreement. Forty years after the mass killings this has been presented by all the works looked at here as a missed opportunity because of a flawed system.…”

Section: The Failure Of Hybrid Courtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Analysis of the Historiographic Tradition Surrounding the Extraordinary Chambers in the Cambodian Courts

Baker

2023

jhsss

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From 1975 to 1979, The Democratic Kampuchea, or the Khmer Rouge, killed between one and a half to two million people, or twenty percent of the population of Cambodia through starvation, torture, and other means. This period is often cited as prime example of a genocide, yet forty years have passed and only four people have been held accountable for these crimes. In 2003, after years of negotiation with the government of Hun Sen, the prime minster of Cambodia from 1985 until the present, the United Nations and the government of Cambodia decided to establish the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the prosecution of the people many believe responsible for the death of over a million people. Yet, from 2003 until the present, as the courts are still in operation, only four people have been prosecuted despite sixteen years and $300 million dollars from the international community.[1] Despite the Cambodian Genocide being a prime example of genocide, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, or ECCC, has proven to be a complete failure for the millions of dead, and the many millions more who lived through the events, and continue to live with the memory every day. Historians, lawyers, and international scholars have debated the issues surrounding why the ECCC has failed to deliver the promises of justice. Over the course of this paper we will be looking at the historiographic tradition surrounding the Extraordinary Chambers in the Cambodian Courts, dividing the works into two different camps. These two camps differ in their opinion on the fatal flaw with regard to the ECCC. These two camps of thought are, one, that political interference by the authoritarian Hun Sen government has, over the courts ten plus years of existence, used its power to prevent any real progress from being made. The other camp argues that the United Nations 2003 agreement with its international standards of justice does not fit into the national ideal of justice and that hybrid courts that attempt to balance international and national priorities have been flawed since its creation. By providing a detailed analysis of these sources the goal will be to find how the two different camps make their arguments and perhaps how scholars have proposed solutions to the difficulties of the Hun Sen government and the UN to attempt to find justice in Cambodia.

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“…An ECCC Info Sheet from May 2011 states that 84.5% of the respondents think that the ECCC will contribute to reconciliation in Cambodia (“ECCC at a Glance,” 2011). Moreover, the sentencing of senior leaders makes it easier for lower‐level perpetrators to come forward, redeem themselves, and reintegrate into their local communities (Zucker, ).…”

Section: Norm Socialization: From Silence To Witnessingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Multiple Pathways to Trauma Recovery, Vindication, and National Reconciliation in Cambodia

Hein

2015

Asian Politics and Policy

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Trauma theory has long been confined to the domain of psychology with a concern for clinical situations and vignettes. The framing of trauma as an individual or psychological problem is unable to explain what causes changes in public attitudes toward trauma victims because it fails to recognize the collective dynamics and social dimension of trauma. The collective dynamics of trauma have emerged as a vital theme in recent works including constructivist sociological models of collective trauma representations and of the changing impact of international norms. This article engages with these models in the context of the Cambodian genocide by the Khmer Rouge and explores the shifts in public perceptions of formerly stigmatized survivors, considering that trauma recovery is a never-ending process with an uncertain outcome. It is argued that the public perception of what constitutes individual trauma and who is acknowledged as victim depends largely on cultural and political contexts. Field interviews with several victims of forced marriages, a mental health expert, and a former judge illustrate what needs to be done to help traumatized survivors find closure and obtain reparations.

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Trauma and Its Aftermath: Local Configurations of Reconciliation in Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal

Cited by 10 publications

References 6 publications

The cloak of impunity in Cambodia II: justice

The cloak of impunity in Cambodia II: justice

An Analysis of the Historiographic Tradition Surrounding the Extraordinary Chambers in the Cambodian Courts

The Multiple Pathways to Trauma Recovery, Vindication, and National Reconciliation in Cambodia

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