VOA常速英语2008年-Cambodia's Khmer Rouge Tribunal Threatened By F

By Rory Byrne
Phnom Penh
21 March 2008

There are growing concerns that a lack of funds could threaten the future of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge¹ tribunal, just months before the first trials are expected to begin. The burgeoning² costs of the joint³ United Nations/Cambodian court have not been met with fresh funds from donor⁴ countries, which means that the long-awaited tribunal will run out of money by the end of April. Court officials however, are hopeful that the international community will come up with the millions of dollars needed to keep the court running. Rory Byrne reports for VOA from Phnom Penh.

Like a slow burning fuse, the threat to Cambodia's Khmer Rouge Tribunal has been building for months. The projected cost of the court has more than tripled from $56.3 million to about $170 million. At the same time, concerns about alleged⁵ mismanagement and corruption⁶ at the court have left donor countries slow to donate more money.

Helen Jarvis is a spokeswoman for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, officially known as the Extraordinary Chambers⁸ in the Courts of Cambodia.

"We are really down to a pretty tight situation because on the Cambodian side we expect the funds to run out at the end of April - on the international side some months later," she said. "And indeed, even when the Cambodian funds run out we can't expect that the court would operate only with international staff. After all we are a mixed-court, and in the courts of Cambodia we really need both sides. As our director says: a bird needs two wings to fly, and that certainly applies to us."

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal has struggled to raise donor funds from the beginning mainly because of concerns about political interference in the trials.

Some leading members of the current Cambodian government, including the prime minister Hun Sen, are themselves former Khmer Rouge members. However, Reach Sambath, the press officer for the tribunal, says the Cambodian government deserves credit for supporting the trials.

"In the beginning, they got bullets of accusations⁹ saying that [the] Cambodian side had no commitment to let this court move forward because many of them were former Khmer Rouge, but on the contrary, within four months the five suspects were brought to the court, and that is why we have to express our satisfaction with the commitment of the Cambodian side of the court," he said.

The funding shortfall comes at the same time as the projected cost of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal has skyrocketed.

According to court officials, the trials are now expected to take about five years - not the three years allocated¹⁰ for in the original budget.

Plus the tribunal belatedly set up a Victims Unit to allow thousands of victims of the Khmer Rouge to take part in the trials as civil parties. The cost of gathering¹¹ and processing evidence from the large number of potential plaintiffs is expected to run into the millions of dollars.

In addition, the expansion of the role of the pre-trial chamber⁷ to include pre-trial appeals, plus the cost of translating thousands of documents into English, French and Khmer have worsened the court's money woes¹².

Evidence of the tribunal's predicament came last week, when the Cambodian side of the court told its 200-plus staff that they would not be paid beyond April.

To prevent the court from closing, court officials are urgently appealing to donors¹³ to pledge more money. Press Officer Reach Sambath.

"I think funds should be provided as urgently as possible because otherwise we don't want - and the Cambodian people - none of them want to see the defendants¹⁴ get free," Sambath said. "Because they waited for this chance [for] thirty years and now we don't want to see they are suffering more because there would be no budget and the court is going to close."

Almost two million people died under the Khmer Rouge's brutal¹⁵ 1975-1979 rule. Prosecuting¹⁶ those deemed 'most responsible' has taken decades.

For court officials, and for many Cambodians, the thought that the trials could collapse¹⁷ at this stage from a lack of funds is unimaginable. Court spokeswoman Helen Jarvis.

"We really can't imagine that we would close our doors in a month from now - I don't think anyone is really entertaining this possibility," Jarvis said. "I think it has been recognized that we have made substantial achievements, and our work is too important to just let go at this point."

Donor countries, known as the Group of Interested States, are scheduled to meet in New York on March 27. Court officials are hopeful that fresh funds will be pledged at that meeting, or shortly after.

1 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

2 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

5 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

6 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

7 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

8 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

9 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

10 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

11 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

12 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

13 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

15 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

16 prosecuting   

检举、告发某人( prosecute的现在分词 )； 对某人提起公诉； 继续从事（某事物）； 担任控方律师

参考例句：

• The witness was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel. 证人接受控方律师的盘问。
• Every point made by the prosecuting attorney was telling. 检查官提出的每一点都是有力的。

17 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。