Impunity in a different register: People’s tribunals and questions of judgment, law, and responsibility

Abstract

In October 2012 I found myself in a large meeting room in the Phnom Penh Ecumenical Center, where the former high school that served as Pol Pot’s notorious Tuol Sleng torture center (S21) was visible from the windows, an ever-present reminder that the quotidian can so easily turn into horror. I was one of four panel members at the Asia-Pacific Regional Women’s Hearing on gender-based violence in conflict (Phnom Penh Hearing). The event was organized by the Cambodian Defenders Project, a civil society organization that provides free legal advice and representation to poor and vulnerable people. Together with an audience of over 250 people, which included many victims of Khmer Rouge brutality,..