Voices of Reconciliation

  English    Since more than ten years work is in progress to hold trials against the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The aging Khmer Rouge leaders are to be tried for crimes regarding their participation in the death of about 1.7 million Cambodians, who perished from starvation, slave labor, disease, and summary executions between 1975 and 1979. The tribunal, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia or the ECCC, is a hybrid court in which the trials at the present are under way.The Khmer Rouge tribunal may be seen as a vital part in the reconciliation process in Cambodia. Hopefully this study will be able to illuminate the mechanisms of reconciliation and the role of tribunals in developing countries with a violent past. This prospect is also intimately connected to democratization and development issues, and might offer valuable insights into the progress processes of countries with a similar history of violence and conflict.This study formed the basis for my Master’s thesis in political science, written for Södertörn University College during the Spring of 2009. The material herein is a popularized version of that thesis, including the full 23 interviews with Cambodians, performed November through December, 2008. These are their words.