PROJECT DESIGN EVALUATION: VICTIM PARTICIPATION PROJECT

4 February 2008

This is an evaluation of the design of the Victim Participation Project at the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam).  This report and its suggestions are based on interviews conducted with members of the Victim Participation Project Team, members of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia’s Victims Unit, staff from local NGOs, and other DC-Cam staff members.

Overview of the Project

DC-Cam began its Victim Participation (VPA) Project in October 2007. The Project aims to collect ten thousand Victim Information Forms by mid-to-late December 2008, submit them to the Victims Unit of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), and promote a timely response to the Forms by the ECCC. The current focus of the Project is to locate people who filled out “Renakse” Petitions in the early 1980s and to assist them in deciding whether and how to complete the Victim Information Form. In addition, the VPA Project will provide information and assistance to other Cambodians who wish to learn more about the ECCC and fill out the Victim Information Form.

Overview of Progress to Date

The Victim Participation Project has got off to a strong start. In late October 2007, DC-Cam brought 280 Cham Muslim male and female religious teachers and chiefs from across Cambodia to Phnom Penh to learn about and, if they so desired, complete the Victim Information Form. Two hundred forms were completed. The remaining 80 participants will fill in the forms at home in consultation with their families. Each participant also pledged to bring five copies of the complaint form home and to encourage their neighbors to file as well. In addition, in November, DC-Cam assisted 28 people from the Cambodian-Vietnamese community of Prey Veng province to file complaints and submitted them to the ECCC along with interviews (each was approximately 60 pages long). DC-Cam also assisted 115 residents of Phnom Penh and is providing similar help to a number of people living abroad whose relatives died during the regime.

The initial field team has been assembled and will be led by Mr. Terith Chy.  It has met several times to discuss logistical issues, methodologies of document collection, and interview techniques. These discussions were supplemented by the creation of an Interview Manual by three DC-Cam Visiting Legal Associates from Harvard Law School—Andrew Steinman, Neil Pai, and Padriac Glaspy. The Manual provides background on the purpose of the Project, suggests techniques to be used while interviewing, and gives a step-by-step breakdown of each line of the Victim Information Form with instructions about how best to explain and assist in completing the relevant section. In addition, the Visiting Legal Associates conducted a two-day training session to explain the contents of the Interview Manual and to prepare DC-Cam staff members to conduct effective interviews in the field.

DC-Cam Legal Advisors John Ciorciari and Anne Heindel have also conducted meetings with ECCC officials, including officers from the Victims Unit and the Public Affairs Section relating to the Victims Participation Project.

The field teams will begin traveling to various communes in early-to-mid February, and Mr. Chy will join the teams when his work in Bangkok with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ends in late-February. The teams will use the Renakse Petitions to determine which areas of Cambodia to focus their attention, as the primary focus of the Project at this stage is to locate those who filled out Petitions in the early 1980s and to verify the information recorded at that time.

Suggestions and Observations

A. Project Purpose and Messages

The Victim Participation Project has two declared purposes: first, to collect and maintain a historical record of the Khmer Rouge period with a focus on verifying the stories of those who completed Renakse petitions in the 1980s; second, to be of assistance to the ECCC Victims Unit in compiling complaints and applications to be joined as civil parties to individual cases. Overall, DC-Cam’s hope is that focusing on the Renakse Petitioners can restart a process of healing that began almost 30 years ago.

DC-Cam needs to be clear about the dual purposes of the Victim Participation Project.  First and foremost, it is important for victims to understand that their submissions are important for the creation of a comprehensive historical record even if they do not become featured parts of the criminal trials.  This is a critical factor in ensuring that victims feel their voices have been heard.  Second, DC-Cam’s emphasis should serve as a reminder to the ECCC and other NGOs to show similar respect for the historical value of victims’ submissions, even if they are not germane to the trials.  The Victim Participation Project should seek to provide accurate and complete forms to the Victims Unit for the ECCC’s purposes. However, the primary outcomes that DC-Cam is attempting to achieve are to improve the historical record of the Khmer Rouge period and to promote reconciliation.  Possible ways to make this emphasis clear include editorials and op-eds in print publications, a position paper produced by DC-Cam, and informing people who fill out the Form that DC-Cam intends to use it for historical purposes, as well as providing it to the ECCC.  This would require additional training to ensure that the field teams are accurately conveying DC-Cam’s intentions with regards to the Forms collected. 

A message that could be included to in-part clarify DC-Cam’s goals for the Project would state that the Victim Participation Project will provide information about the Victim Information Form (including what it means to be a complainant versus a civil party) and then will allow people to choose if they want to complete the Form as a complainant, civil party, or not at all. No influence or advice will be exerted to persuade people to do anything with the Form.

A benefit of the VPA Project is that if many of the Renakse Petitioners are located (even a small number such as two to three thousand) and their stories verified, it will lend credibility to the other 1.1 million petitions that were filled out in the 1980s. Looking forward, other projects could be based on reaching out to those Petitioners whom the VPA Petitioners could not locate to further develop a credible historical record and promote reconciliation.

B. Issues with Coordination

The Victims Unit (VU) has already reached out to local civil society organizations through meetings both with individuals and with multiple NGOs. The VU has expressed a desire to coordinate their efforts with those of civil society, through training sessions, meetings, and consolidation of messages.

DC-Cam’s Victim Participation Project will attempt to provide the Victims Unit with a vast number of Victim Information Forms. To this end, a high level of cooperation and coordination between DC-Cam and the Victims Unit will aid the overall impact of the effort to provide a voice to victims. There are a number of questions that should be addressed related to interactions with the Victims Unit as DC-Cam moves forward with its Victim Participation Project:

1.      Victim Information Form

Victim Participation Project staff members will assist Cambodians in filling out the Victim Information Form. This will provide VPA Project staff with insight into difficulties or problems with the Form. DC-Cam has already noted several issues (such as the insufficient space to describe crimes and the Form’s small print) and the VU has been receptive to that feedback. As DC-Cam staff continues to work with the Victim Information Form, other issues could be noted to pass along to VU officers.

Additional issues may arise as the VU begins to process the Forms. Some Forms may be incomplete, illegible, or filled out improperly. In order to ensure that the greatest number of Forms is processed and that those who wish to be civil parties are adequately considered, it may become important for DC-Cam to remain aware of deficiencies in completed Forms and to be in touch with the Victims Unit about possible remedies for such defects.

            2. Comparing Lists

As DC-Cam provides completed Forms to the VU, issues may arise related to the VU’s ability to acknowledge receipt of the Form to the person who filled it out. The potentially high volume of Forms that the VU will have to manage could prevent the VU from responding to the complainant within the 60 days required by the ECCC’s Practice Direction. One way to address this issue is by, on a recurring basis, requesting a list of Forms that have been replied to. By comparing the list of Forms sent to the VU by DC-Cam with the list of people who have been sent responses, DC-Cam can remain aware of feedback problems and can work with the VU to propose solutions.

            3. Understanding the Part That Other NGOs Will Play

Day-to-day coordination with other NGOs in the field is unlikely to be efficient or productive due to differing methods of operation and different focuses on groups to target. However, there will be at least three other NGOs collecting completed Victim Information Forms (KID, ADHOC, CSD, and possibly others), and it will be useful to remain aware of which communes/provinces other organizations are working in and what the focus of their activities is. It could cost valuable time and resources to visit an area in which an NGO has already collected Forms and submitted them to the court, as this will prevent the VPA Project Team from collecting Forms in the area in question. A focus on locating Renakse Petitioners will likely mitigate these issues, as no other NGOs are targeting Renakse Petitioners, however remaining aware of the activities of other NGOs and groups collecting Victim Information Forms will help ensure that the Victim Participation Project does not encounter unnecessary problems.

There are several different ways that the VPA Project can remain apprised of the activities of other NGOs, including informal ongoing conversations, posting the VPA Project’s interview calendar on the DC-Cam website and tasking a staff member with checking the websites of other NGOs, and an e-mail listserv with dates and locations sent to relevant organizations.

C. DC-Cam’s Role Relating to Victims and Others Beyond Collecting and Submitting Forms To the ECCC

The VPA Project will not function as a Victims’ Association nor will it in any way provide legal representation or information about legal representation to victims.  It is essential for staff members to reinforce this point in their field interviews.  This being said, DC-Cam’s role will likely not, for practical purposes, end once with submission of the Forms to the Victims Unit. Potential areas in which DC-Cam may continue to play a further role in victim participation include: (i) assisting the ECCC in delivering responses to complaints and civil party applications; (ii) correcting errors and omissions on the submitted forms; and (iii) holding conferences/meetings with victims in the future to assess the impact that filling out and submitting the Victim Information Form has had upon them.

It will be important for DC-Cam to be explicit with victims and the ECCC about what it will do beyond submitting the Forms, particularly if DC-Cam agrees to carry out work on behalf of the court (such as delivering the responses). DC-Cam may want to inform the Victims Unit of its plans and work regarding further victim-related activities and work with the Victims Unit to learn what assistance DC-Cam may have the resources and expertise to provide (i.e. functioning as a back-up storage site for the documents).

In addition, clarification of DC-Cam’s role beyond collecting and submitting the Forms may be important for managing the expectations of those completing the Forms. If DC-Cam does not intend to play a direct role in victim participation beyond collecting collection and submission of Forms, this should be made clear to those filling out the Forms.

The idea discussed above of “comparing lists” of documents submitted and responses sent out does not necessarily imply that DC-Cam’s role involves remaining in touch with complainants. Instead, the comparison of lists can be viewed as a process through which DC-Cam may help to hold the Victims Unit to account for responding.

An additional issue to be considered is the extent to which information will be sought from Renakse Petitioners about their experiences in filling out the petitions in the early 1980s. If DC-Cam wishes to further validate the accuracy of the Renakse petitions, conversations with former petitioners may be useful to achieving this goal. However, such conversations may detract from the ability of the VPA Project staff to efficiently assist in the completion of Forms. Balancing the amount of historical information sought versus the ability to reach many people and to submit a significant number of Forms to the court may be an issue to consider.

D. Information Tracking

Once the Victim Participation Project gets underway, DC-Cam will have access to a great deal of information about the individuals who fill out the Forms. Issues to be considered are what, if any, information will be retained by DC-Cam and for what purposes that information will be used.  The names and addresses of those who fill out the Forms will likely be the least legally objectionable information for DC-Cam to retain.  DC-Cam’s legal advisors should consult with the Victims Unit and with individual victims to determine whether the Center should keep additional information, such as people’s suggestions as the form of “collective and moral reparations.”

To achieve the VPA Project’s aims of creating a historical record and verifying information from the Renakse Petitions, DC-Cam should retain copies of the Forms if possible. The retention of Forms raises issues for discussion with court officials, including confidentiality, the maintenance of a back-up copy of records, and victim protection.

E. Collection

DC-Cam’s target of collecting ten thousand Victims Information Forms constitutes a formidable challenge. There are several important issues to address in order to approach the target number.

            1. Resources

DC-Cam staff members anticipate that there will be a permanent Victim Participation Project Team with approximately ten dedicated staff. Of these ten team members, it is known that two cannot travel to the field because they are part-time staff members with other commitments.

The VPA Project Team is planning to spend 20 days each month in the field, with two teams of 5 people (10 people total) traveling to communes together. The staff have further informed me that it takes at least one hour to assist a victim in filling out the Form and that each staff member could assist in the completion of four Forms per day under ideal conditions (assuming that there are no difficulties in finding the meeting site, that there are enough people willing to fill out Forms, and that there are no delays, etc.).

This means that, under ideal conditions, forty Forms could be completed a day.  Staff members have, however, commented that it would be more reasonable to assume that they will complete an average of 27-30 Forms per day. Assuming that teams start going into the field in February, there are approximately 220 days for the staff to collect forms (11 months x 20 days a month). At this rate (30 forms a day x 220 days), the field teams will be able to collect 6600 forms in 11 months.

Main Point: The field teams will likely be able to collect between 5800-7000 forms in 11 months.

            Three considerations arise from this calculation:

a. Coordination of Field Trips Prior to Departure of Teams Will Be Important

In order to enable the teams to work as efficiently as possible, it may be useful to have a dedicated VPA Project staff member (or a member of another DC-Cam team) take responsibility for coordinating the VPA Project teams’ field trips. This would include identifying the communes with the highest concentration of Renakse Petitioners, identifying known commune chiefs in those areas, and contacting the commune chiefs both several weeks and several days before a planned visit to confirm that the team is expected.

                        b. Additional Team Members May Be Needed

The scope and duration of the VPA Project indicates that additional members may help ensure that the Project achieves it target figure. Adding additional members to the field teams will allow VPA Project staff to assist more victims on each trip. There may also be a need for additional team members based at DC-Cam to help coordinate trips and to organize and record information once the field teams have returned.

c. Additional Methods of Collecting Forms Will Need to Be Planned

As demonstrated above, for the VPA Project to achieve its goal of assisting in the completion of ten thousand Victim Information Forms, additional methods for collecting the Forms will likely need to be devised. Possible ideas are to hold conferences every few months similar to the Conference held in October with Cham Muslims. This would allow a large group of victims to assemble in one place where more DC-Cam staff members would be available than the ten in the field to assist people in choosing whether and how to fill out the Forms.  Students who are selected for training later in the year could also be trained to assist victims in filling out the Forms as an additional source for Forms. Further discussions on programs to bring in additional Forms would be useful.

2. Debriefing

When VPA Project field teams return from collecting the Victim Information Forms, a debriefing process could help discover issues with travel arrangements, gaps in training, or other issues for transmission to the VU. The establishment of a formal or semi-formal debriefing process would allow these issues to be discussed and procedures revised to ensure that the efforts in the field are efficient and productive.  Additionally, as new information or messages are generated by the VU for dissemination in conjunction with the Victims Information Forms, field teams will be in a position to provide feedback on the new messages.  This feedback can be relayed to the Victim’s Unit in a timely fashion so that difficulties can be immediately addressed.

F. Training

The VPA Project team now has a training manual and some members of the team have experience working with the Form and assisting others in completing it.  However, as the court releases information about the crimes with which suspects have been charged and the geographical locations upon which the prosecution will focus and begins making decisions clarify who constitutes a “victim” for the purposes of direct participation in proceedings as a civil party, the VPA Project team will need to update its methods and messages. This issue can be partially resolved by keeping up to date with Court decisions and staying in contact with the Victims Unit to remain aware of any changes in procedures or messages.

In addition to training sessions focused on the legal issues raised by the forms, additional training measures could be implemented including:

·         Training sessions focused on the difficulties of interviewing people who are recounting painful stories. Many staff members are experts at this and could lead the sessions.

·         Brainstorming sessions about the most effective way to record information provided by victims (i.e. tape recorders likely won’t be adequate to take information for later transcription, so a discussion of the challenges and issues that may arise from having to handwrite long descriptions of crimes may be useful).

In my opinion, a significant challenge to protecting the potential legal value of the Victim Information Forms arises from having VPA Project staff members fill out the forms for those people who cannot write. Particularly for the section in which the victim is supposed to describe the crime, the VPA Project team needs to think about how it can both record the information completely (that is, getting the whole story written down) without writing verbatim every word that the victim says. This will necessarily require a degree of choice about what the VPA Project team member writes. To address this issue, the VPA team could have additional training sessions or discussions to determine what is appropriate and necessary to write and what does not need to be recorded. To facilitate a transparent process, DC-Cam may wish to formalize (in writing) criteria for what types of information the VPA Project team will record and what types it will omit.

G. External Factors

The success of the VPA is tied to the ability of the VU to acquire adequate resources quickly and efficiently. The VU has ambitious plans, yet there is currently no budget for core activities. The ECCC will only fulfill its mission if victims are adequately included in the process and support for the VU—both from donors and court management—is critical.  Even if the VU’s issues are resolved to some extent, there remain numerous “bottleneck” points in the process that will need to be addressed by the VU in order to allow large numbers of complaints to be processed. Related to the Victim Participation Project, efforts by the VU to update the Victim Information Form and to work with the Court to provide a cohesive message about the definition of “victims,” “complainants,” and “civil parties,” will factor in to the ability of the VPA Project to accomplish its goals.

Potential areas in which the VPA Project can provide assistance to the VU to resolve these issues include providing consistent feedback on difficulties encountered with the Forms in the field, translating documents before they are submitted, organizing the submissions into groups based on any criteria that the Office of the Co-Prosecutors or VU may provide, and working with the VU to develop effective outreach messages to ease the process of filling out Forms.

Conclusion

The Victim Participation Project provides an opportunity to both begin a process of assessing the historical validity of the Renakse Petitions, and, through the completion of Victim Information Forms, contributing to national reconciliation.  The Project is off to a good start, however, in order to achieve success, the ambitious goals of the teams must be evaluated in terms of available resources and realistic expectations and additional programs within the VPA need to be considered. Communicating a clear message to those who the Victim Participation Project team members interact with about the purpose of the Victim Information Form, the various options that the Form entails, and the potential disposition of the forms and their stories are all integral to the Project’s success.

Please do not hesitate to contact me at +001-202-907-8624, or at normanpent@gmail.com with any questions or if I can be of further assistance to the Victim Participation Project. The VPA Project is an essential part of DC-Cam’s ongoing mission to develop a historical record of the Khmer Rouge period, both by documenting the crimes committed and by helping to facilitate a legal process to bring accountability to those who would commit such crimes.

Norman Pentelovitch

Georgetown University Law Center

Washington, DC