Speeches
Remarks by Chargé d'Affaires Piper A. W. Campbell,
Launch of US-sponsored Cambodian Court Information Boards
Ministry of Justice, Phnom Penh
May 21, 2008
Your Excellency Ang Vong Vathana, Minister of Justice;
Your Excellency H. E. Tep Darong, Director, Royal Academy for Judicial Professions;
Your Excellency Suy Mong Leang, Director, Project Management Unit, Council for Legal and Judicial Reform;
Ms. Erin Soto, Mission Director, United States Agency for International Development;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
On behalf of the United States Government, it is a pleasure to be with you today to help launch the Ministry of Justice’s Court Information Boards. These information boards will go a long way toward ensuring that Cambodia’s courts are more accessible and transparent. As they are unveiled in every provincial court around the country, the boards will serve as a public reminder of not only the responsibilities Cambodian citizens have to their legal system, but the duties the legal system has to Cambodians.
The information boards are one component of the Program on Rights and Justice, a legal-reform project that USAID provided with $2 million dollars this year. In 2006, USAID signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Royal Government of Cambodia to begin to cooperate on strengthening the country’s legal system. Two areas of cooperation under the MOU are development of a model court and disseminating laws to the public. The program’s overall aim is to improve the ability of key Cambodian stakeholders, both governmental and non-governmental, to undertake effective advocacy, education and training efforts to ensure that justice and human rights are properly observed and upheld. These are formidable challenges, but my colleagues at the Ministry of Justice, USAID, and implementing partner East West Management Institute are confident the Cambodian legal system can achieve great things.
Our confidence is well founded. In Kandal Province, we are seeing positive results from a model courthouse that was developed by the Ministry of Justice and the donor community. USAID has been happy to contribute to the government initiative. This innovative courthouse is bringing to fruition many of the goals of the Royal Government of Cambodia’s development strategy:
- Through a revamped file archiving system, the court is ensuring judges, prosecutors and lawyers have easy access to all closed cases;
- Through an exhibit storage system, the court is making it easy for all parties to store and access evidence essential to the hearing of cases;
- Through an indigent representation system, the court is providing legal representation to defendants unable to afford attorney fees;
- Through a law library, the court is ensuring all parties have access to the information sources they need;
- And finally, through a set of information boards like the ones we will unveil across the country, the court is providing necessary information to all parties involved in the court.
Sometimes complex problems require simple solutions, and the information boards fit that description. As you’ll see very shortly, the boards come in three parts:
- The first board lists civil dispute filing fees and provides the criteria for waiving fees for people who cannot afford court and attorney fees;
- The second board lists the rights of defendants under the newly passed Criminal Procedure Code;
- Finally, the third board provides information on the rights of accused persons, minors and victims of crime.
None of this information was available publicly in the past. The reaction in Kandal Province to these boards was so positive that USAID and the Ministry of Justice decided to expand the program and install them outside every courthouse in the country. In the next few months, the Ministry of Justice, with USAID assistance, will install 63 information boards outside all 21 of Cambodia’s provincial courthouses.
USAID sees this public information board initiative as just one component aimed at providing the public with greater access to information, improving the transparency of the court system, and improving the public’s perception of the courts. It is an example of what can be accomplished when the government takes the initiative on an important project, and I’d like to thank His Excellency Ang Vong Vathana, Minister of Justice, for his leadership. This is a modest but significant step forward in the process of making the courts more accessible to the citizens they are designed to serve.
Thank you.
