The 2004 Legal Training Project

REPORT
Legal Training Project

July-August 2004

SUMMARY

From July 22-August 31, 2004, DC-Cam held six weeks of legal training on international humanitarian and criminal law.

The training course was attended by 29 law students, human rights NGO workers, reporters, political representatives, lawyers, and selected DC-Cam staff. Participants were selected mainly for their interests in learning and spreading the laws they studied to other Cambodians, as well as their levels of English. 

The course covered lectures and discussions, group work, essay writing, and a mock trial led by experienced international law professors and lawyers as well as distinguished Cambodian guest speakers.  They were experienced trainers, including some of former professors or trainers who were involved in our 1995-1996 training. This combined pool of teachers and learners made possible an understanding of international experiences and precedents in relation to the Extraordinary Chamber law and trial process in Cambodia. 

At the end of course, the majority of participants were pleased with the course and suggested a next course with a more time coverage for each topic and a larger pool of participants. 

The course was held for 1.5 hours, twice daily, four days a week over a six-week period. A training manual was also produced to accompany the LTP.

PARTICIPANTS

1995-1996 course trainees who joined a working lunch with this year participants:

Chan Sotheavy, Director of Civil Affairs Department, Ministry of Justice

Huot Vuthy, Deputy Prosecutor of Kandal Province
Kang Rith Kiri, Lawyer, Asian International Law Firm
Nin Saphon, Member of Parliament, Cambodian People's Party
Seng Sivutha, Judge and Director of Criminal Affairs Department, Ministry of Justice
Soeung Panhavuth, Board Director of Prosecutor Affair Department, Ministry of Justice

ORGANIZATION

Supervisor

John Ciorciari, an international lawyer trained at Harvard and Oxford Universities

Coordinators

Aubrey Ardema, Santa Clara University School of Law (lead)
Bunsou Sour, DC-Cam
Sorya Sim, DC-Cam

Opening speech
Daniel Cavegn (Dr.), Embassy of Switzerland Bangkok

Trainers

Ron C. Slye (Prof.), Seattle University School of Law

Elizabeth Van Schaack (Prof.), Santa Clara University School of Law

Noah Benjamin Novogrodsky (Prof.), University of Toronto, Faculty of Law

Aubrey Ardema, Santa Clara University School of Law
Julia M. Fromholz, University California, Berkeley/Harvard University
Katrina E. Anderson, Seattle University School of Law
Kelly Whitley, University of Virginia
Stephen Andrew Liang, Harvard Law School
 

Guest Speakers

Bernie O’Donnell, Lecturer, Institute for International Criminal Investigations     

Doeuk Pidor, Professor of Law, Royal University of Law and Economics
Hing Thirith, Judge, Provincial Court of Stung Treng
Huot Vuthy, Deputy Prosecutor, Provincial Court of Kandal
Kang Rith Kiri, Lawyer, Asian International Law Firm
Mao Chandara, Deputy Chief of National Police Commissioner of the Ministry of Interior
Maonh Sophan, Member of Parliament, FUNCINPEC
Sean Visoth, Executive Secretary, Tribunal Task Force, Office of the Council of Ministers

Stephen Heder, Professor, School of Oriental and African Studies, UK
Son Chhay, Member of Parliament, Sam Rainsy Party
 

PROGRAM

I. CAMBODIAN AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

Thursday, July 22

            OPENING SPEECH

                        Dr. Daniel Cavegn, Embassy of Switzerland, Bangkok

            MORNING  (Prof. Ron Slye)

History and importance of international human rights law, drawing upon contemporaneous examples where international human rights law has been applied – Iraq, Rwanda, Cambodia.  Relationship between international and domestic law, using EC Statute as one example.

AFTERNOON  (Prof. Ron Slye)

Broad overview of different types of rights: civil, political, economic, social, and cultural.

Friday, July 23

(Welcome lunch for Prof. Ron Slye at DC-Cam.)

            Assigned Reading:

1.   Ratner/Abrams, Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law, pp. 9-19

2.   International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),

3.   International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

4.   Steiner/Alston pp. 237-8, 245-8.

            MORNING  (Prof. Ron Slye)

Sources of international law:  Treaties.  Using statute creating the EC, discuss different sources of international law and their use in interpreting domestic law.

            AFTERNOON  (Prof. Ron Slye)

ICCPR compared to EC – e.g. Article 14 and defendant protections; substantive violations – definition of torture, etc.  Compare to other domestic tribunals influenced by international law, such as the Special Tribunal to prosecute Saddam Hussein and other Iraqis.

Monday, July 26

Assigned Reading:

1.   Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Torture Convention)

2.   Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention)

3.   Steiner/Alston pp. 1049-53 (focus on international law issues, pp. 1051-53).

            MORNING  (Prof. Ron Slye)

Sources of international law: Ius Cogens and Customary International Law, with brief reference to general principles, judgments, and publicists as source of international law.

            AFTERNOON  (Prof. Ron Slye)

Customary international law of torture, with reference to contemporary practice, such as Iraq and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.  Contemporary Cambodian case of police abuse.

Tuesday, July 27 – STUDENT COURSE EVALUATIONS

Assigned Reading:

1.   Steiner/Alston pp. 612-14, 619-23, 706-09.

            MORNING  (Prof. Ron Slye)

Systems of human rights adjudication: international, regional, and national.  Brief overview of UN and regional human rights regimes and the different mechanisms they have for interpreting human rights law.

AFTERNOON

            Doeuk Pidao, Royal University of Law and Economics

Possible conflicts between Cambodian laws and international laws on part of human rights

II. HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW

Thursday, July 29

            Assigned Reading:

1.   Steiner/Alston pp. 28-30, 31-33, 761-66.

2.   Cambodian Constitutional Council, Case No. 038/001/2001

MORNING  (Prof. Ron Slye)

Review of International Human Rights Law, its substance and processes, through the case study of capital punishment.

AFTERNOON

H.E. Sean Visoth, Office of the Council of Ministers

            Negotiation process of the Khmer Rouge tribunal

Friday, July 30

(Welcome lunch for Prof. Beth Van Schaack at DC-Cam.)

            Assigned Reading:

1.   Steiner/Alston pp. 1134-38

2.   Nuremberg Statute

3.   Tokyo Statute

            MORNING  (Profs. Ron Slye and Beth Van Schaack)

Comparison of international criminal and civil system.  Move from collective to individual responsibility.  International jurisdiction questions.

            AFTERNOON  (Prof. Beth Van Schaack)

History of international criminal law with a discussion of efforts at codification and adjudication associated with World War I, World War II, Cold War and post-Cold War periods.

III. THE CRIMES COVERED BY THE EC STATUTE

Monday, August 2

            Assigned Reading:

1.   ICC Statute (Article 7 only)

2.   ICTY Statute (Article 5 only)

3.   ICTR Statute (Article 3 only)

4.   Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Torture Convention)

MORNING  (Prof. Beth Van Schaack)

Introduction to major treaties and instruments (Geneva Conventions, Genocide Convention, Torture Convention) and enforcement mechanisms (ICTY, ICTR, Sierra Leone hybrid court, International Criminal Court)

AFTERNOON  (Prof. Beth Van Schaack)

Crimes Against Humanity – history of the crime, consensus International Criminal Court definition, elements, constitutive crimes (torture, arbitrary detention, deportation, murder), current prosecutorial efforts, application to Cambodia.

Tuesday, August 3 – REFLECTIVE ESSAY 1 DUE

            Assigned Reading:

1.   Geneva Conventions Common Articles 2 and 3

2.   ICTY Statute (Article 4 only)

3.   Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention)

            MORNING  (Prof. Beth Van Schaack)

Genocide – history of the crime and its signature treaty, elements, current prosecutorial efforts, application to Cambodia.

            AFTERNOON  (Prof. Beth Van Schaack)

                        Exercise on Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.

Thursday, August 5

            Assigned Reading:

1.   ICC Statute (Article 8 only)

2.   ICTY Statute (Article 2 only)

3.   ICTR Statute (Article 4 only)

MORNING  (Prof. Beth Van Schaack)

War Crimes – History of war crimes, elaboration of treaty regimes, international versus internal armed conflict, current prosecutorial efforts, application to Cambodia.

            AFTERNOON  (Prof. Beth Van Schaack)

                        Other crimes within the EC Statute.  Exercise.

Friday, August 6

            Assigned Reading:

1.   ICTY Statute (Article 7 only)

            MORNING  (Prof. Beth Van Schaack)

Forms of responsibility (direct responsibility, complicity, conspiracy, joint criminal enterprise, command responsibility).

AFTERNOON  (Prof. Beth Van Schaack)

Exercise, review, and wrap up.

(H.E. Maonh Sophan)

Khmer Rouge tribunal law

Monday, August 9

            MORNING  (Steven Liang)

                        Defenses in international criminal law.