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	Long overdue genocide trial to commence in Cambodia by CNN / AFP / AP   13.6.2007   Khmer tribunals to finally commence. (AFP)   A panel of Cambodian and international judges has cleared the way for the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal to put suspects on trial for genocide.   The decision, which ends months of infighting, is the first concrete step toward prosecuting one of the worst genocides of the 20th century since court officials were sworn in last July.   "These rules will ensure us... fair and transparent trials," co-prosecutor Robert Petit told reporters, adding they had been adopted unanimously. "Now that the rules are adopted, we can move forward."   The rules are essential because they govern every aspect of the tribunal"s operations.   The first trials of leaders of the 1970s regime had initially been expected this year. However, the delays mean trials are unlikely now to start before early 2008, officials say.   Cambodian and foreign prosecutors who have been building cases since last year will probably send those files onto investigating magistrates within weeks, Mr Petit said. "The process is going to get underway within the next couple of weeks," he said.   The tribunal"s opening last year had already been delayed by years of protracted negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia. The repeated deadlocks among the Cambodian and international judges raised concerns that the long-stalled tribunal would ultimately fail.   Swift trials are the last chance for Cambodians to obtain justice for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge more than 30 years ago. Human rights groups and legal advocates are concerned that the ageing former regime leaders will die before being brought to trial.   So far only one of the accused is in custody, while several live freely in Cambodia. The only other person to have been arrested for crimes committed during the regime, military commander Ta Mok, died in prison last July. Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998.   Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed during the communist regime"s 1975-1979 rule.   The Khmer Rouge abolished religion, schools and currency, exiling millions onto vast collective farms with the aim of creating an agrarian utopia.   Sre Liev, Cambodia. May 20, 2007   Destitute Cambodians loot "killing fields". (AP/CNN)   Pheng Chea says the ghost came to him in a dream. The spirit of the victim of the Khmer Rouge regime showed a gold necklace to the 29-year-old peasant, and told him to dig it out from her grave.   He found the gold near a big tree stump in one of Cambodia"s many "killing fields," the mass graves where the Khmer Rouge dumped victims during its rule from 1975 to 1979. Peng Chea sold it for $240, which he used to buy his first cow. At a recent Buddhist ceremony, he offered a bowl of rice noodles to the ghost of his lucky dream and asked for her forgiveness. "I thanked the spirit for giving me the gold," Pheng Chea said.   The pillaging by Peng Chea and other destitute peasants worries researchers trying to preserve a historical record of the Khmer Rouge, blamed for the death of 1.7 million people through hunger, illnesses, overwork and execution. By the time the researchers learned about Sre Liev, the bones had already been piled up in the open.   Sre Liev village is tucked away in a forest about 80 miles southwest of the capital of Phnom Penh. Its 100 residents live in ramshackle thatched houses and eke out a living planting rice or cutting wood for sale.   For years, the villagers left the nearby grave site alone. But a team of Vietnamese soldiers recently excavated the site by mistake looking for the remains of comrades who had died after Vietnam drove the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979.   When the Vietnamese soldiers left, villagers began speculating that the pits held jewelry, and started digging up the graves.   The villagers acted out of desperate poverty, says Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group collecting evidence of the Khmer Rouge atrocities.   The looting of the killing fields was common shortly after the regime lost power, he said. His center has documented about 20,000 mass graves across Cambodia; the vast majority of them have been disturbed, mostly by poor rural people, he said.   Today 35 percent of the Cambodia"s people survive on less than 50 cents a day.   * Access the link below to visit the Documentation Center of Cambodia. Visit the related web page
	President of Chile underscores importance of Special Procedures to Human Rights Council by Michelle Bachelet United Nations Human Rights Council   4 June 2007   Michelle Bachelet, the President of Chile, told a special meeting of the Human Rights Council today that at this crucial time in the Council''s institution building, it was important to act before fresh tragedies took place, and the systems of Special Procedures and early warning were of key importance because they could stop events from growing into systematic atrocities if they were caught in time.   Ms Bachelet said that the Universal Review Mechanism was one of the most innovative and important aspects of the reform of the Council, but for it to succeed, it must take up all the countries and it must be pluri-participatory, involving State experts and non-governmental, intergovernmental and national institutions.   Chile was steadfastly committed to the defense of life and human dignity. During its darkest days, the international community had always been besides Chile, and therefore she could not have failed to visit the United Nations Human Rights Council. She wanted to assert here the positive legacy that was left by the former Human Rights Council, including the Special Procedures system which was the cornerstone of the promotion and protection of human rights.   In opening remarks to this special meeting which was held in honour of the President of Chile, Louis Alfonso de Alba, the President of the Council, said the Council knew of the suffering of Ms. Bachelet and her family after the events which brought about the fall of the civilian Government in Chile. The presence of the President of Chile here was of special relevance, as she represented the vision of the victims, the promoters of human rights and the public authorities who had committed themselves to the defense of human rights. This richness would be a special source of inspiration for the Council in its work.   Sergei Ordzhonikidze, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, said Chile''s strong involvement in many of the United Nations'' activities greatly strengthened millions across the world and brought benefits to people in all corners of the globe. The presence of the President of Chile, as an eloquent and fearless champion of human rights and democracy, was a vote of confidence in the new Human Rights Council and an illustration of a significant political commitment to ensuring that it fulfilled its promise.   Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that as the Human Rights Council prepared to celebrate its first anniversary, the presence of the President of Chile provided a powerful reminder that oppression and abuse of human rights could be overcome. The recent adoptions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities represented solemn commitments to fill normative gaps in the implementation of human rights. However, severe shortcomings remained, particularly when it came to the implementation of universal norms. Visit the related web page
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