Beyond the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

In 2006, the United Nations and the Cambodian government established the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) within the context of the post-Khmer Rouge Buddhist society, in which concepts such as ‘karma’, ‘reincarnation’, and ‘merit-making’ take root. The institution has been interpreted differently among victims whose views of justice are informed by the pre-existing Buddhist frameworks. Many participating victims sought to use it as a venue to accommodate their own ideas of justice linked with perceived obligations to seek peace for the spirits of their loved ones. Other non-participating victims showed disinterest in or resistance towards the formal processes, seeing them as undermining their ordinary, everyday justice-seeking efforts through Buddhist beliefs. This chapter looks into the (in)compatibility between liberal, retributive justice and Cambodian Buddhist justice through the narratives and lived experiences of both groups of victims, bringing attention to different perspectives on the vernacularisation of foreign justice models.