Leiden Journal of International Law

Table of Contents - 2009 - Volume 22, Issue 01  

CURRENT LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

Two for the Price of One: Attempts by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia to Combine Retributive and Restorative Justice Principles

BRIANNE N. MCGONIGLE*

Abstract

This article illustrates how the ECCC is struggling to combine successfully two distinct institutional responses to crimes, by being both a criminal tribunal, with its formal rules of procedure and focus on retributive justice, and a quasi-truth and reconciliation commission, with its more flexible approach to participatory rights for victims and focus on reconciliation. The article highlights the advantages and challenges of adopting a ‘two for the price of one’ model within the Cambodian context and uses the experiences of the ECCC to underscore important lessons for future ad hoc and hybrid courts.

Key words

  • Cambodia;
  • international criminal law;
  • restorative justice;
  • truth and reconciliation commissions;
  • victims

Footnotes

* MA, JD, Ph.D. candidate in international criminal law and procedure at Utrecht University's Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, and co-director of the Netherlands office of the Public International Law & Policy Group. The author sincerely thanks Marieke de Hoon and Theo Leyh for their insightful comments on earlier drafts. Any mistakes or misconceptions are the author's own.