Joint Statement by the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations high-level Delegation Regarding the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

A constructive meeting was held yesterday between Deputy Prime Minister His Excellency Dr. Sok An, Minister in charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers and Chairman of the Task Force on the Khmer Rouge Trials, and a high-level United Nations delegation led by the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Mr Miguel de Serpa Soares, the UN Legal Counsel, accompanied by the Assistant Secretary-General, Ms Maria Eugenia Casar, the UN Controller and by Ambassador David Scheffer, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Expert on the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials.

The Deputy Prime Minister and the UN high-level delegation agreed to continue their cooperation on matters relating to the ECCC and reaffirmed their commitment to ending impunity for the atrocities of the former Khmer Rouge regime. They expressed their determination to overcome the funding challenges faced by the ECCC so as to avoid any delay in the judicial proceedings and to assure the welfare of both national and international staff.

The Deputy Prime Minister agreed that the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) will be able to provide $1.1m to cover the salaries of ECCC national personnel, including judicial officers, for the first quarter of 2014, and that Cambodia will support the current proposal in the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly at its meeting in March 2014 to approve a subvention to the ECCC from UN assessed contributions. On this basis, the UN high-level delegation agreed that Ambassador Scheffer would devote maximum efforts, working with representatives of the RGC, to mobilise further funds towards the 2014 budget of the national component of the ECCC.

The Deputy Prime Minister expressed the Government’s view for achieving as soon as possible a clear roadmap towards a completion strategy for the ECCC, and the Deputy Prime Minister and the UN high-level delegation reiterated their continuing commitment to support the ECCC and to the pursuit of international criminal justice.