UN, Cambodia agree on $56 million budget for special Khmer Rouge courts

The United Nations and Cambodia today agreed on a $56 million budget for a special court to try aging leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime accused of killing hundreds of thousands of civilians in the country during the 1970s.

The talks between a six-member UN team and the Government wrapped up in the capital, Phnom Penh, with agreement also on the premises and infrastructure for the two Extraordinary Chambers. One court will conduct trials and the other will hear appeals within the existing Cambodia justice system.

In May 2003 the General Assembly authorized the UN to help Cambodia set up and run the courts to "prosecute those most responsible for crimes and serious violations of Cambodian and international law between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979."

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that voluntary financing for the tribunals must cover the three years of the courts' operation, and that actual receipt of funding for at least the first year must be in place before the courts can begin their work.

The UN team will now return to New York to brief officials here on the budgetary talks.