Speeches
Remarks by Gregory F. Lawless, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, Awards Ceremony for Internews Journalism Training Program on the ECCC
Himawari Hotel, Phnom Penh
December 20, 2007
Members of the Press, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am pleased to be here today to celebrate the conclusion of the Internews training program called "Covering the Khmer Rouge Tribunal: Helping Cambodia’s Media Meet the Challenge," which was funded by a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of State. The goal of this program was to equip the Khmer-language media to report on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and to meet the urgent public need for information and public discussion about justice issues in Cambodia.
The effectiveness of the ECCC hinges in part on the public and the media’s ability to understand and participate in the process. Ensuring that the Cambodian media and the public have access to relevant and useful information is essential. The ECCC process represents a critical chance for Cambodian journalists to uphold a core democratic tenet—the public’s right to know—by placing the power of information into the hands of Cambodians so that they can be properly informed and engage and participate in decisions and events that affect them directly.
It was our hope that providing this training program to local media would have a dramatic effect on the degree to which Cambodians become and remain informed about the ECCC. By all accounts the program has been a success. Stories about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal that I have seen in the press written by journalists in this room have been timely, relevant and have resonated with the Cambodian population in ways that will finally allow for the process of healing to begin.
Furthermore, improving the capacity of Cambodia’s press corps over the course of reporting the tribunal will have lasting effects in terms of improvements in ethical, critical, and professional journalism in general and reporting on justice issues in particular. A properly trained corps of reporters will have the ability to monitor court proceedings and serve as a watchdog to ensure transparency in the judicial process long after the trials are complete.
I salute all the journalists in this room for their courage, hard work and dedication, and I look forward to following developments in the ECCC through your reporting.
Thank you.
