Shaping Justice? The Khmer Rouge Tribunal's Influence on Expectations and Experiences of Justice in Cambodia

In 2009, the hybrid tribunal being held in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) began its first trial of one of those accused of being most responsible for crimes against humanity committed during the Khmer Rouge regime 1975-1979. The purpose of this project is to use anthropological theory and methods to explore how exposure to the ECCC, either as an observer or as a legal or lay participant, affects people’s understandings and practices in relation to justice in Cambodia. It asks what kinds of knowledge people are acquiring through their exposure to the court. The study then seeks to understand what this knowledge means in practice for people living in Cambodia today.