OFFICE OF CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE INVESTIGATIONS

 

 

 

OFFICE OF CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE INVESTIGATIONS

EAP/CGI

 

Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs

U.S. Department of State

 

I. BACKGROUND

 

-- Cambodian Genocide Justice Act sponsored by Senator Charles Robb of Virginia in April 1994; legislation signed into law by President Clinton.

 

-- Legislation limits focus of CGI activities to Khmer Rouge period, 1975-79.

 

-- CGI office formally established in State Department/Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in July 1994.

 

-- Grant program publicly announced in September 1994, with submission date for applications at end of October 1994.

Grant applications evaluated and award to Yale University announced in January 1995.

 

-- Legal study, separate from cooperative agreement with Yale, to update case against Khmer Rouge began in January 1995; initial report to be submitted to State Department in July 1995.

 

 

II. YALE CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE PROGRAM

 

A. Program Management: Involved are

 

  • Yale Center for International and Area Studies (YCIAS), headed by Professor Gaddis Smith.

 

  • Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights, headed by Professor Harold Koh.

 

  • Project Director is Dr. Ben Kiernan, Associate Professor of History and Member of Yale Council on Southeast Asia Studies.

 

  • Program Manager for YCIAS is Dr. Craig Etcheson; Mr. Youk Chhang is Program Officer in Phnom Penh.

 

  • Dr. Helen Jarvis, Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, is Program Consultant for Documentation.

 

  • Duration: two years; Funding: US $499,283 from the Department of State.

 

B. Documentation Survey and Index: Objectives –

 

  • Identify document and evidentiary holdings in Cambodia, the United States and third countries.

 

  • Create IBM-compatible computer indexing system and data bank of primary source materials; train project specialists in Cambodia.

 

  • Establish computer center in Cambodia, as well as in the U.S.; data will be accessible through user systems in many countries.

 

C. Research and Training: Activities

 

  • Develop curriculum in three languages (Khmer, English and French) regarding research and investigative techniques, evidentiary standards, forensic science familiarization, case preparation.

 

  • Conduct 10-week training programs in Phnom Penh in mid-1995 and mid-1996.

 

  • Initiate series of h3.storiograohical studies on Khmer Rouge 'regime to be undertaken by Cambodian researchers.

 

  • Propose new areas for social science and legal research.

 

  • Identify new sources of primary source information, including oral testimony and documentation.

 

III. LEGAL RESEARCH (CONSULTANCY)

 

-- Review recent international juridical developments (Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, Ethiopia, international criminal court) to identify options for legal redress against Khmer Rouge for atrocities committed during 1975-79 period, as provided in CGI legislation.

 

-- Specify possible rules of evidence and judicial procedure in light of currently accepted international legal standards and practice.

 

-- Recommend approaches for development of cases to be brought in future legal tribunal of accepted international standard.

 

 

Clarifications:

 

  • U.S. Government does not condone trials in absentia or legal proceedings at variance with accepted United Nations and international legal standards.

 

  • U.S. Government will rot itself conduct investigations; no U.S. investigative office will be established in Cambodia.

 

  • All activities will respect Cambodia sovereignty

 

 

ORIGINAL FILE HERE