ECCC’s Acting Director of Administration, H.E. Tony Kranh signs an agreement with GTZ Country Director Heinrich-Jürgen Schiller on 16 June 2010 at the ECCC in the presence of the German Ambassador to Cambodia Frank Mann and Victims Support Section Chief Dr Helen Jarvis and Co-Investigating judge Marcel Lemonde.
On June 16, the German government, represented by its implementing agency German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), signed an agreement with the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) pledging an additional 400,000 Euros to the tribunal’s Victims Support Section (VSS) for the continuing improvement of victims’ participation in the Khmer Rouge trials.
Wednesday’s agreement was signed by GTZ Country Director Heinrich-Jürgen Schiller and by the ECCC’s Acting Director of Administration, H.E. Tony Kranh, in the presence of the German Ambassador to Cambodia Frank Mann and VSS Chief Dr Helen Jarvis.
H.E. Mr Kranh officially acknowledged Germany’s important role within the ECCC’s judicial process and described the signing of the agreement as "very crucial". "Victims participation is one of the areas in which the ECCC is breaking new ground and setting new standards for courts with international support and involvement," H.E. Mr Kranh said. "Through your support, the ECCC has been able to play its proper role in communicating with victims throughout the country and overseas, providing them with information about proceedings, and facilitating their participation."
Dr Helen Jarvis, responsible for implementing the Victims Improved Participation Project over the past years, also expressed her "deep thanks for the constant support from the Federal Republic of Germany and from GTZ". "More than 8,000 victims of serious crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge regime have had the confidence in the Court to come forward to provide information on those crimes and on the suffering they endured," Dr Jarvis said.
"At the same time outreach teams, Civil Party lawyers and intermediary organisations have collaborated on two major campaigns: to collect supplementary information from Civil Party applicants where the original application was lacking; and to do our best to ensure appropriate legal representation for all Civil Party applicants."
"At the same time outreach teams, Civil Party lawyers and intermediary organisations have collaborated on two major campaigns: to collect supplementary information from Civil Party applicants where the original application was lacking; and to do our best to ensure appropriate legal representation for all Civil Party applicants."
A firm believer in Cambodia’s national reconciliation efforts, Germany has injected more than 7 million Euros worth of funding into the national and international sides of the ECCC since 2005. For the past three years, it has supported various outreach projects with civil society organizations in order to foster reconciliation and justice also beyond the direct sphere of competence of the KR Tribunal.