Remarks Samdech Moha Bovor Thipadei Hun Manet, the “visit to and inauguration of achievements at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)” [Unofficial translation]

[Khmer speech attached below]

His Excellency VONGSEY Vissoth, Standing Deputy Prime Minister, and Chair of the Royal Government Task Force on the implementation of the ECCC Residual Functions.

Excellencies, Deputy Prime Ministers, Senior Ministers, Ministers

His Excellency Miguel de Serpa Soares, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel

His Excellency, Her Excellency Ambassadors in Cambodia

His Excellency Joseph SCHEUER, UN Resident Coordinator in Cambodia

His Excellency Knut ROSANDHAUG, International Coordinator of the ECCC

Excellencies, Deputy Prime Ministers, Senior Ministers, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Today, I am very pleased to be here and to speak at the "Visit to and Inauguration of Achievements at the ECCC Residual Premise" organized by the Office of the Council of Ministers and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. First of all, I would like to thank the ECCC for its noble initiative in promoting education and disseminating the historical achievements of the ECCC for students, victims, researchers and all humanity to contribute to peacekeeping and preventing the return of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime on Cambodian soil again, and our presence today also demonstrates the recognition of the importance of this historic achievement. The Khmer Rouge regime has left unimaginable damage and unforgettable suffering for the Cambodian people to this day. Even decades have passed, and the Cambodian people continue to fight the pain. Survivors struggle to cope with the emotional and physical crisis of losing family members and personal health on a regular basis.

I would like to take this rare opportunity to express your deepest gratitude and always remember the great and priceless work and merits of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen who liberated the country from the Pol Pot genocidal regime, and brought peace, national unity, national unity and territorial integrity in its 500-year history through the introduction of a win-win policy, as well as the high commitment and support of Samdech Techo from the initiative to establish this court to the completion of the smooth and internationally recognized trial process. Cambodia is very proud to close the pages of its dark past history by building and developing the nation from scratch to the land of peace and development as it is today and has set an example in building peace, avoiding post-war conflicts, and providing justice to victims of all forms of serious and brutal crime. At the same time, I would also like to thank and remind you of the dedication and the legacy of Samdech Vibol Panha Sok An, who led the Royal Government of Cambodia's negotiating team with its UN negotiating counterpart to establish this hybrid tribunal and to run smoothly and maintain its sovereignty and ownership in directing and managing the judicial process.

Peace and war represent two aspects of how we aspire to live as a society and how we deal with our differences. Peace and war are the most complex situations that everyone will face, whether they are victims of war or politicians, wanting an end to conflict and peacebuilding. To end the war and make peace requires the participation of highly educated people and many others to keep the peace. Win-win politics is therefore the foundation of lasting peace, as this win-win policy has eliminated racial, religious and sectarian discrimination and enabled all Cambodians to live in harmonial society together as well. Moreover, through this win-win policy, the Royal Government of Cambodia also established the ECCC with the excellent cooperation of the United Nations and the financial support of the international community to provide justice to the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime, the reconciliation of the divided society, the elimination of the culture of impunity and a message for the leaders Of countries around the world about the consequences of their atrocities.

I would like note that the establishment and commissioning of the ECCC has also reflects the commitment of the Royal Government of Cambodia as a member state of the United Nations to fulfill its obligations consistently and successfully with regard to the prevention, prevention and punishment of genocide and Responsibility to Protect (R2P), which was unanimously adopted by states at the 2005 UN World Summit to Protect People from the four major crimes: Genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.
As highlighted in the report by His Excellency the Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Working Group of the Royal Government in charge of the implementation of the remaining functions of the ECCC, that the ECCC has brought unexpected and remarkable historical success of bringing a former head of state of a regime to trial reveals the historical facts of the Khmer Rouge regime and provides justice and relief to the victims, and leaves more than 2.4 million pages of case files are available in Khmer, English and French. Taking this opportunity, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia, I would like to express my deep gratitude to all those who have contributed to this process, including judges, prosecutors, lawyers, legal officers and all administrative staff of the court, both national and international. In particular, I commend and thank the victims who have established themselves as Civil Parties and testified about their bitter personal case before the courts to seek truth and justice for all victims of the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Shortly before attending this event, I and some of the leaders took a hands-on look at the ECCC achievements both during the 16-year trial period (2006-2022) and during the implementation of the remaining functions from 2023. In particular, the establishment of the "ECCC Resource Centre" which have six main components, as mentioned by the Permanent Deputy Prime Minister. There are two construction projects: the Consultation Room for Victims of the Khmer Rouge Regime and the Permanent Exhibition Hall on the Trial Process, and the Construction of a Memorial Park for the Groundbreaking Built in 2024 and 2025.

In addition to the above achievements, I would also like to emphasize the importance of continuing education and disseminating information about the archives of the case file and the achievements of the ECCC in order for students and national and international scholars to be able to expand their knowledge related to the Khmer Rouge regime in connection with the organization of study tours to the public, especially young men, women, students and teachers to better understand about the ECCC Trial Process And crime sites (Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek Killing Field Museum, etc.) and in particular understand the history and process of successful implementation of the win-win policy and the construction of the Royal Government's win-win monument. At the same time, we need to encourage cooperation among relevant ministries and institutions, especially educational institutions, culture, justice and tourism, in the transfer and acquisition of good knowledge, experience and documents from the ECCC in the spirit of mainstreaming and contributing to the preservation of these achievements for the next generation, as well as the prevention and control of extremism and the recurrence of Cambodia's dark and bitter past in the future.
With the education and dissemination of the achievements of the ECCC, we also need to consider the sustainability of the ECCC moral and collective reparations which endorsed to civil parties and victims of the Khmer Rouge regime in the past and to develop additional projects to continue to provide support to all civil parties and victims.

Prestigious Achievements in the History of the ECCC As we have now seen, Cambodia is considered one of the most promising countries in the region in terms of peacebuilding, national reunification, victimization and accountability processes. This is our soft power and we should be proud and play an active role to share all our experiences and achievements at the regional and international level in enhancing the potential and prestige of the experienced Cambodia dealing with post-war peace-seeking, armed conflict resolution, and national reunification. This soft power can also be a hard power for Cambodia in the field of transitional justice, that is, finding a solution after the armed conflict. In this regard, the Royal Government has decided to establish a "State Institute in charge of the ECCC Legacy" to compile, manage, document and research centers, share knowledge and provide information to the next generation, scholars and the general public To find out more about serious crimes as well as the success of the ECCC trial process.
By recognizing the importance of knowledge sharing, education and dissemination of information, experiences, achievements, and jurisprudences of the ECCC at all levels and aspects of society in Cambodia and on the regional and international stage, in order to maintain lasting peace, to participate in strengthening transitional justice, and to prevent and prevent atrocities and genocide, I offer a number of recommendations to the Royal Government Working Group on the implementation of the remaining functions and administration of the ECCC. Directly consider all aspects of the establishment of the above institutions that are autonomous, autonomous and sustainable, with the participation of national institutions, regional institutions / organizations, the United Nations, the international community and national-international research experts such as Below:

First. About the Institute's Vision and Mission: The vision of the Institute should focus on excellence in research in Cambodia by strengthening conflict prevention mechanisms, supporting sustainable peace, and sharing experiences of Cambodian judicial models on accountability process in Southeast Asia and around the world. The mission of the Institute should cover (a) the coordination and implementation of peace development policies; (B) enhancing excellence in research, analysis and policy recommendations to ASEAN institutions; And (c) promoting transparency and accountability, maintaining peace, and strengthening social cohesion through dialogue and consultation. Second. Guiding Principles: The guiding principles of the Institute should be autonomous in promoting high-level thinking, excellence in research and leadership on justice, regional transition and peace-building, and encourage cooperation in mobilizing key actors from educational institutions, civil society, national and international organizations, public institutions to build initiatives on accountability and strengthen Cambodia's path to peace. Third. About the Location: The location where the above institute is to be established should be the building that performs the residual functions of the ECCC, as the national and international component (UN) of the ECCC is renovating the current building with electronic and information technology (ICT) infrastructure, organized libraries, residences-archives, and multi-functional meeting halls, and wall-mounted exhibitions at a cost of nearly $ 3 million USD. In particular, this location has become a popular place and is gradually attracting the interest of young people, students and national and international researchers. Fourth. Timing: For the appropriate time to re-establish the Institute, consider establishing it at the same time as the ECCC is implementing its residual functions and the administration of the ECCC can help build legal documents, establish an institute, help establish an appropriate working mechanism, and be able to gradually begin to fulfill the core role of the institute to be established.
Overall, the Institute above is a Center of Excellence to provide valuable lessons on the leadership of national peace-building policies, the "White Paper" on Transitional Justice, and the creation of higher excellence to work for on the prevention and recurrence of atrocities and genocides, the maintenance of lasting peace and remembrance in Cambodia, and also the contribution of Cambodia to ASEAN, the United Nations system and the peace structure; similar development. The Institute is also responsible for the proper preservation and high standards of the archives and the use of the achievements, experience and valuable legacy of the ECCC of effective, efficient, quality and transparent.

At the same time, I would also like to request the Royal Government Working Group to be in charge of the implementation of residual functions and the administration of the ECCC to continue considering on six other points, including: 1- The role and core responsibilities of the Institute (Core Roles and Responsibilities), 2- About the name and structure (Name and Structure), 3- Status and Modality, 4- Partners of Cooperation, 5- Impact Assessment, and 6- Budget Requirements.

[impromptu speech]
Just now, on my way in, I looked at the archives where there are more than 2.4 million pages, which we need to divide into confidential and public documents. But more importantly, the end of this 16 year (trial) has ended a dark history of Cambodia. This page of history must not be closed and left to be covered with dust. We need to remind the Cambodians (of this history).

Yesterday I saw a video clip from a movie during the Khmer Rouge era. In one of the episodes, the Khmer Rouge guerrillas summoned a sleeping old man to plow a field, where two others were working as oxen. The thing that interests me is in the comments part which tell us the difference views between the old and the young. The older people commented that they would never forget what happened then. But some young people said they did not believe that there were no cattle in those days and people had to plow instead. They said it was a performance. We have just come this far, where the survivors (from the Pol Pot regime still) remember (about the genocide but), we have younger people who could not believe what happened (because) history was not shared. This is not no different to younger generations in some countries where they do not believe the holocaust that occurred during World War II.

History is not just a reminder of evil or negativity, but a reality in a society, where, in this case, Cambodia and the world suffer. It is what humanity need not to see it happen. We need to conduct research and compile (these materials), but it must be (based on) actual documents and not on hearsay. If history were not based on actual documents, it would later become a fabrication. Therefore, it is required to keep the documents here and figure out how to set up the institute in the future for the sake of maintaining and sharing. As of present, even at the United Nations, they have set up days to commemorate the genocide of some countries in order for humanity to remember history we must remember the bitter history and especially avoid extremism and massacres of people.

In whatever policy and for whatever reason, issuing such a policy of massacre of millions of people is unacceptable and must be remembered by all Cambodians. Efforts must be made to further develop research, compilation and documentation of these documents, whereas they should not be kept only in this place. At the moment, HE Kranh Tony said that there are between 80 and 100 students who come to research here every day. This is a good thing. I would encourage all citizens, both foreigners and Cambodians, who want to learn about the country’s real history and research on the original documents, (to come here) […] for instance, Nate Thayer interviewed Pol Pot before his death. That is the first-hand document for all. That he wrote comments on it has made further research losing the material originality. In this place, for instance, there are lots of first-hand materials.

At the moment, there is also a video. Any eyewitness interviews have included with videos. If one is not sure s/he has missed words, s/he may watch videos, because each word, each phrase confers the reality. Such documentation is important. Digitalization of hardcopy materials and backup files are required. I suggest not to backup only in the building we should have another room or building for the sake of safety. As we have digitalized the 2.4 million pages documents we can file a lot of these documents (which can be used as evidence) since no one would call for a 16-year retrial. This 16-year documents can serve the needs for hundreds of years to come.

What we have as the history of Cambodia is not only for the Cambodians but we must share it to other regions through open research, sharing experiences, especially special historical hybrid courts nature. This is what is needed for documentation efforts in this building. Today is a step forward and we will organize in the future an institution to expand the potential and preserve the value, including the painful episode, for the next generation of Cambodians. Difficult cultures and histories demonstrate the need for peace because they are interconnected. They connect what was the history from the time of the Moha Nokor (great country) down to zero, and to the restarting efforts with a promising prospect of hundreds of years to come as most of our witnesses are in their late 50s who will be here to tell (what the truth is)? This (clip that people commented it is beyond belief that human worked in the drought animals’ stead) is just one of the scenes that I saw and quoted regarding the (life) under the Pol Pot era. Hence, to preserve and archive millions of documents (regarding this regime) is an important work.

Finally, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia, I would like to send a message through His Excellency Miguel de Serpa Soares, Deputy Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel to the United Nations, to His Excellency Antanio Guterres, Secretary-General of The United Nations commends and appreciates the Royal Government of Cambodia for its contribution to the creation of a model hybrid tribunal in the form of the “ECCC or the Khmer Rouge Tribunal” and would also like to thank the international community for its political, technical and financial support, which has allowed the tribunal to complete its trial process smoothly, successfully and with recognition. Internationally. The success of this tribunal is considered as a collective success, including: the Royal Government of Cambodia, the United Nations and the international community, especially for the victims and for all of humanity. I wish His Excellencies, Her Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen who are here to be healthy, prosperous, happy and successful in all their endeavors. Thank you.