The innovative “hybrid” structure of the Khmer Rouge tribunal has hampered its functioning since the court’s inception in 2006 and should not be a model for other international courts, according to the co-author of the new book “Hybrid Justice,” who will deliver a lecture on the book in Phnom Penh on Thursday.
“There are still many ways in which the U.N. and donors could have been more constructively engaged from the outset. We think the structure put the U.N. and the donors in a weak position to be able to exercise discipline over the efficiency of the process over issues such as political interference, but we don’t think the structure required the way that the U.N. and the donors have behaved,” he added.