From the margins of internationalized criminal justice: lessons from the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) is the second internationalized criminal justice process in southeast Asia after Timor Leste. Sharing many interesting features with the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ECCC combines extensive victim participation with a reparations mandate. This article discusses the ECCC experience thus far and identifies some preliminary lessons for both the ICC and the Asia-Pacific region in four areas that are often left at the margins of internationalized criminal justice processes: (i) an ECCC outreach programme benefiting from the Court’s in-country location and support from local NGOs; (ii) the gradual learning curve involved with managing large scale victim participation, with 8,000 victims applying to participate in Case 002; (iii) challenges for implementing the court’s collective reparations mandate; and (iv) the potential legacy of the ECCC, being of particular relevance for Cambodia as one of the few countries in the region that ratified the ICC Statute.