Cambodia still waits for justice

Since Sept. 11 last year, attempts at international justice have understandably been focused on finding and bringing to justice the perpetrators of the attacks on the United States.

But as necessary as the war against terrorism is, there are older and wider crimes against humanity still awaiting justice. Last weekend the United Nations announced it was pulling out of its involvement in establishing an international court in Phnom Penh to try members of the Khmer Rouge.

The UN believes the proposed court "would not guarantee the independence, objectivity and impartiality that a court established with the support of the UN must have".

The Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, under whose regime two million Cambodians were murdered, escaped justice in 1998 in the time-honored way of mass murderers: By dying. Several prominent lieutenants of Pol Pot are living freely in Cambodia because of disputed pardons granted in return for their surrender.

The people of Cambodia overwhelmingly want the Khmer Rouge leaders brought to justice, and see international participation as essential to ensuring the credibility of the trials. In recent years the world has gone a long way towards ending the defence of national sovereignty in cases of crimes against humanity. For Cambodia's mass murderers to escape prosecution would be a huge step backwards.

-- The Age, Melbourne