Cambodia plans to establish an institute to provide a place for genocide study and the success of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

The plan was revealed by Prime Minister Hun Manet during a meeting with Alice Wairimu Nderitu, undersecretary-general and special adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, today in Phnom Penh. 

During the meeting, Manet highlighted the importance of education and outreach programmes about the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge, as well as Cambodia’s efforts to prevent the recurrence of such a regime. 

“The prime minister emphasised that the government will establish an institute to compile and manage documents about the Cambodian genocide. It will become a research centre that shares knowledge and provides information to the next generation, scholars and the general public, so that they can learn more about genocide, as well as the success of the ECCC,” said Manet, via a social media post. 

Nderitu is attending the “Cambodia's Future Without Genocide, Protecting and Responding through Education and Health Care" conference, held from May 20-22.

She has broad experience in the sector and has served on many missions relating to the genocides in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Rwanda.

She praised the excellent cooperation between the ECCC and the UN, as well as Cambodia’s efforts to prevent genocide and its successful mainstreaming of the issue in state and private schools. She said she would like to see experiences and lessons from Cambodia shared widely with the world. 

“She stressed that Cambodia's lessons and experiences should be shared with countries around the world and that the cooperation between the UN and the Cambodian government should continue on the implementation of home-grown projects,” added the post.

The ECCC completed its judicial operations in 2022, 16 years after the first judges were sworn in. Following the completion of the ECCC's trials, its post-trial tasks focus on publicising the success of the court, as well as mainstreaming genocide prevention. These tasks will continue until at least 2025.

The work is being carried out by the ECCC Resource Centre, along with the Legal Documentation Centre relating to the ECCC (LCD). 

NGO the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, (DC-Cam), is another large institution with a large archive of documents relating to the Khmer Rouge.