NZ giving $200,000 to Khmer Rouge Tribunal

New Zealand will give another $200,000 to fund the work of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal on which former Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright sits.

The funding will take New Zealand's contribution to the tribunal to $1.2 million since 2006.

Prime Minister John Key made the announcement today during a visit to the tribunal in Phnom Penh where he has been attending the East Asia Summit.

The tribunal has not been sitting this week which allowed Mr Key to take a tour of the courts.

Dame Silvia, a former High Court judge and Governor-General, met Mr Key at the tribunal today.

She is one of seven international judges appointed to the tribunal to sit alongside local judges.

It is prosecuting leaders of the Khmer Rouge who ruled the country from 1975 to 1979 and who were responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people through murder, starvation or being worked to death.

Dame Silvia also attended a function last night with her husband, Peter Cartwright, for alumni of study scholarships provided by New Zealand for Cambodians.

Mr Key is leaving Cambodia early this evening for an official visit to Burma.

- By Audrey Young of the New Zealand Herald in Cambodia

Add a Comment