KHMER ROUGE TRIBUNAL: RESULTS OF PUBLIC PERCEPTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000058

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, S/WCI
USAID FOR ASIA BUREAU
USUN FOR M. SIMONOFF

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KJUS ABUD EAID PHUM PREL CB
SUBJECT: KHMER ROUGE TRIBUNAL: RESULTS OF PUBLIC PERCEPTION
SURVEY


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: A September 2008 survey of 1,000 adult
Cambodians indicates that there is a general lack of
knowledge about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) among the
Cambodian population, with 39 percent of surveyed respondents
stating they had no knowledge of the KRT, and 46 percent
stating they had limited knowledge. Among respondents who
had at least some knowledge of the court, 30 percent stated
that they want the court to speed up the trials. Two-thirds
of these same knowledgeable respondents said they believed
the court was neutral; however, 23 percent stated they
believed the court was corrupt. Overall, respondents who had
lived under the Khmer Rouge regime were more likely to have
knowledge of the court. The survey was conducted by the
University of California, Berkeley Human Rights Center's
Initiative for Vulnerable Populations with funding from the
Open Society Institute, Open Society Justice Initiative, and
the German Development Service. END SUMMARY.

Lack of Knowledge About the KRT
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2. (U) The Human Rights Center of the University of
California, Berkeley released January 21 the findings of a
September 2008 survey showing that 39 percent of survey
respondents had no knowledge of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal
(KRT),or Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
(ECCC) as it is officially known. Forty-six percent of
respondents said they had limited knowledge of the court.
Respondents who did not live under the Khmer Rouge regime
were more likely to report that they had no knowledge of the
ECCC -- 50 percent of those who did not live under the Khmer
Rouge reported no knowledge, compared to 34 percent of those
who did live under the regime. More than two-thirds of
respondents (69 percent) reported that they had lived under
the Khmer Rouge regime. Of respondents who had heard about
the ECCC during the past month before the survey, main
sources of information regarding the ECCC were: radio (80
percent),television (44 percent),family or friends (15
percent),and newspapers (11 percent). Three percent of
respondents heard about the ECCC from posters or booklets,
three percent from NGOs, and two percent from commune
councilors.

Perception That KRT Is Moving Slowly
--------------


3. (U) Respondents who had at least some knowledge of the
court (61 percent of those surveyed) were given the
opportunity to make one recommendation regarding the ECCC.
The recommendation of almost one third of respondents was
that the ECCC speed up the trials -- approximately 34 percent
of respondents who lived under the Khmer Rouge and 22 percent
of respondents who did not live under the Khmer Rouge
responded with this recommendation. Approximately 22 percent
of all respondents recommended that the trial be fair and
independent. Other recommendations elicited lower response
rates: about 11 percent recommended the ECCC punish those
who committed atrocities during the regime; about eight
percent recommended the court find justice; nearly four
percent recommended the court establish the truth; and, less
than two percent recommended the court forgive the regime's
top leaders. Approximately 24 percent either did not have
recommendations, provided other recommendations, or responded
that they "don't know."

Survivors Better Understand the ECCC
--------------


4. (U) According to the survey, respondents who lived under
the Khmer Rouge were more likely to provide correct responses
to detailed questions about the ECCC than respondents who did
not live under the Khmer Rouge regime. One question was
whether the ECCC was an international, national, or mixed
system court with Cambodians and international judges and

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staff -- 55 percent of respondents who lived under the Khmer
Rouge provided the correct answer (mixed system) compared to
49 percent of those who did not live under the regime. Other
questions were regarding the number and names of those
awaiting trials.


5. (SBU) The published survey report speculates that
knowledge about the ECCC might be higher among Khmer Rouge
survivors because survivors might be more interested in the
court. Poloff tapped respected court observers for their
opinions. Youk Chhang, Director of the Documentation Center
of Cambodia (DC-Cam),added that the matter of the court is
personal to Khmer Rouge victims. Cambodia Defenders Project
Director Sok Sam Oeun speculated that Khmer Rouge survivors
know more about the court for similar reasons, stating that
those who lived under the regime suffered and remember the
suffering they experienced under the regime. They therefore
pay more attention to relevant information than those who did
not live under the regime. Youk Chhang also commented that
he felt the difference in knowledge level had something to do
with the fact that those who lived under the Khmer Rouge
regime are older than Cambodians who did not live under the
regime. He stated that, "Young people don't know about
history because they are simply young" and are generally more
interested in shopping and movies. However, he did add his
belief that Cambodian young people know more about genocide
history than in other places in the world because they live
with it through their parents every day.

Survey Sample
--------------


6. (U) According to the survey publication, the study's
1,000 respondents were randomly selected from the RGC
Ministry of Planning's National Institute of Statistics
Cambodia General Population Census village database. All
respondents were 18 years of age or older. Researchers
randomly selected 125 out of 1,621 communes using random
sampling proportionate to population size, and included at
least one commune from each province. Next, two villages
were randomly selected from each commune; then, within each
village four households were randomly selected, and then one
member from each household. Fifty percent of respondents
were female; average age was 39.8, and 56.9 percent of the
respondents were age 36 or older. Questions about ethnicity
and religion show that 94.5 percent of respondents were
Khmer, 2.1 percent were Cham, 1.0 percent were Vietnamese,
0.4 percent were Chinese, and 2.0 percent were other; 94.5
percent were Buddhist, 2.1 percent were Muslim, 1.0 percent
Catholic, and 0.4 percent other religions consistent with
demographic trends in Cambodia.

Outreach Programs
--------------


7. (SBU) The ECCC public affairs office has developed
booklets, posters, stickers, a website, and a newsletter to
assist in its outreach and media relations. Two Cambodian
NGOs are known for their outreach work regarding the KRT.
The DC-Cam Living Documents project brings Cambodians from
all over the country to the ECCC and other relevant sites in
Phnom Penh to educate the public about the Khmer Rouge era
and the court. The project is currently partly funded by DRL
(USD 110,000 from April 2008 to June 2009),and also receives
funding from the Government of Norway. Other DC-Cam outreach
and education activities are funded by the Open Society
Institute, and the Governments of New Zealand, Germany,
Belgium, and Denmark while the organization also receives
endowment-based funding from USAID for its operations. The
Center for Social Development (CSD) has conducted a series of
public forums on the court. Many of the public forums have
been filmed by Mekong Films, which produced a series of films
about the court which have aired on Cambodian national
television. The CSD project was funded by the German

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Development Service and Diakonia from Sweden. The Mekong
Films project was in coordination with the East-West Center,
the University of California, Berkeley, and the ECCC, and
received funding from the UK. The survey publication also
notes that the Cambodian NGO ADHOC provides information on
the KRT at the district level to officials and ordinary
civilians. Also, the Khmer Institute of Democracy has a
program to train citizen advisors who inform community
members about the court.

Comment
--------------


8. (SBU) While future funding for NGOs to conduct ECCC
outreach activities such as public forums and tours of the
ECCC may be well spent, the University of California,
Berkeley survey indicates that standard media outlets such as
radio, television and newspapers have so far provided more
Cambodians with knowledge of the ECCC. What media cannot
provide for Cambodians is a sense of participation or greater
buy-in of the process through opportunities to ask questions
and discuss personal accounts. This level of buy-in among
more Cambodian citizens could help the court overcome
negative perceptions. We were reminded by one court observer
that successful public outreach to date has been able to
address the court's factual presentation of the case ("who
did what") but has not fully addressed the truth and
reconciliation aspects of the Khmer Rouge era ("why did they
do it and how can victims come to grips with their past?").
Despite ongoing allegations of kickbacks paid by Cambodian
court staff, a small set (three percent) of all respondents
thought the ECCC was corrupt, compared to nearly 26 percent
who judged that "normal" Cambodian courts were untrustworthy.
Post will provide a copy of the survey to the Desk.
RODLEY