(Correction: Clarified facts reported in the previous article.)
With unpaid local staff who had renewed threats for a labor strike, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia was set to receive USD4 million to pay for salaries of its international staff. The said court is financed by both the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations through donor contributions, one of which is from the European Union.
In a statement released through the EU's delegation to Cambodia, the EU money is part of the international component of the court's finances and is earmarked for wages of international judges, legal support staff and prosecutors.
"This contribution comes at a crucial time for the work of the Court, when the Trial Chamber is about to conclude the evidence hearings in Case 002/01 and investigations on Case 003 and Case 004 are well under way," EU Ambassador Jean-Francois Cautain said.
Earlier, a strike was planned by some parts of the national component of the ECCC, whose salaries have been unpaid since May of 2013.
The court accumulated USD175.3 million in expenditures from 2006 until the end of 2012. Its ongoing cases were hearings related to the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge killings, of which up to 2.2 million died due to torture and overwork between 1975 to 1979. In its tenure, the court has handed out just one conviction while three more are currently under investigation. Regardless, Cautain had said that the financial assistance would renew EU's promise "to deliver justice for the Cambodian People."
EU recorded a nominal GDP of USD 16.584 trillion in 2012, which is 20% of the world's GDP. EU party members consist of founding member states France and West Germany. Belgian politician Herman Von Rompuy serves as President of the European Council while Portuguese José Manuel Barroso serves as President of the European Commission.
Join the Conversation