U.N. Abandons Khmer Rouge Tribunal Talks

The United Nations unexpectedly announced Friday that it is ending its long quest to try former leaders of Cambodia’s notorious Khmer Rouge regime on charges of genocide, blaming the decision on Cambodia’s refusal to permit prosecutions under international rather than its own laws.

The move was immediately criticized by the United States, which strongly backed the 4 1/2-year effort to set up a special tribunal. It urged the U.N. to resume talks with Cambodian officials.

“The tribunal is important to help resolve many of the issues that remain in Cambodia,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. “We would hope that they would continue discussions.”

France also called for continued consultations, with a diplomat here saying that “the path of dialogue between the United Nations and Cambodia should remain open.”

The Khmer Rouge is widely held responsible for the slayings of a million or more Cambodians from 1975 to 1979, and the U.N. agreed in 1997 to help Cambodia prosecute former leaders of the regime for genocide and crimes against humanity. But in August 2001, Cambodia passed a law decreeing that all such trials would be held under national rather than international law.

Hans Corell, the U.N.’s chief legal advisor, told the Cambodian government in a letter Friday that the world body was “ending negotiations” over the establishment of the special tribunal. The U.N. contended in a statement that “the court as planned would not be fair” and said that Cambodia had rejected its proposals for financial and legal assistance for the prosecutions.

“As currently envisaged,” the U.N. said, “the Cambodian court would not guarantee independence, impartiality and objectivity, which was a prerequisite for the U.N.’s cooperation with such a court.”

Corell told reporters Friday that the U.N. “cannot be bound by a national law” and had concluded “with regret” that further negotiations with Cambodia would be fruitless.

Some human rights advocates agreed, saying Cambodia has deliberately obstructed U.N. attempts to have some international oversight at the proposed trials and that its own judiciary is too compromised and inexperienced to secure impartial prosecutions of Khmer Rouge captives.

“The U.N. had no choice,” said Mike Jendrzejczyk, an Asia expert at Human Rights Watch. “We feel it is important for the U.N. to insist that international standards be fully met if the U.N. is to be part of any tribunal for the Khmer Rouge.”

U.N. Security Council members said they were informed of the decision shortly before it was publicly announced. The decision was ordered by Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary-general, who was in Utah on Friday attending the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, Corell said.

“We were very surprised and would urge Mr. Corell to continue discussions with the government of Cambodia,” said a U.S. official in New York who asked not to be identified.

Officials at the Cambodian mission to the U.N. said Cambodian diplomats were not available to comment Friday.

Pol Pot, the notorious leader of the Khmer Rouge, died in the Cambodian jungle in 1998. Cambodia granted amnesty to some senior Khmer Rouge officials, including Pol Pot’s former foreign minister, Ieng Sary. But many other former Khmer Rouge officials remain at large.

Frustration over the slow-moving negotiations with Cambodia had become increasingly evident in recent months as U.N. officials publicly rebutted Cambodian claims that the world body had failed to provide requested legal assistance in the drafting of legislation for the proposed tribunal. Corell had repeatedly postponed a long-planned trip to Cambodia because of what U.N. officials described as Cambodian obstructionism.

According to the U.N., Corell received a copy of Cambodia’s legislation after it became law at the end of August and returned it with a detailed critique in mid-October. The U.N. said it never received a promised Cambodian response to Corell’s submission, despite a continuing exchange of correspondence on the matter.

Corell said Friday that a Cambodian Cabinet minister, Sok An, recently told him that Cambodia would not modify its laws as the U.N. had suggested.

“The ultimate issue is that unless the whole concept of these extraordinary chambers is governed by an agreement between the United Nations and the government, the United Nations cannot enter into this because it will leave the field open to the government in Cambodia to make whatever changes they see fit in the future,” Corell said.