Schisms in Humanitarianism: The Khmer Rouge Tribunal's First Hearing

• Main Author: MOHAN, Mahdev
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2009
• Subjects: Khmer Rouge; Tribunal; Genocide; International Criminal Law; Human Rights; Asian Studies; Dispute Resolution and Arbitration; International Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/831; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/1830/viewcontent/_Asian_Journal_of_Comparative_Law__Schisms_in_Humanitarianism___The_Khmer_Rouge_Tribunals_First_Hearing.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Mass atrocity invokes humanitarian impulses in all of us. But when a genocidaire casts himself as a victim, the right response is less straightforward. This article analyzes a recent hearing of one of Cambodia's most feared Khmer Rouge cadres who stands trial before a newly established hybrid tribunal and suggests the consequences of responding to war crime trials with polemics rather than principle.