Cambodian Leader Signs Law to Create War Crimes Tribunal

On August 10, 2001, Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihanouk signed a law that will permit a war crimes tribunal to prosecute leaders of the Communist Khmer Rouge for crimes against humanity during their genocidal 1970s rule. The United Nations must still decide whether the legal framework is sufficient to ensure meaningful proceedings and whether it should participate in the tribunal. After the signing, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reminded the Cambodian Government that the relationship between the U.N. and the Cambodian Government must be governed by a memorandum of understanding.