Cambodia Programs: The WSD Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice and the East-West Center have worked on joint programs in Cambodia since 2006, mainly focusing on trial monitoring, transitional justice outreach and legal capacity building. Currently the joint programs work on four key areas:
- KRT Trial Monitoring: Daily trial monitoring at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Follow live updates on Twitter, daily summaries on Facebook and weekly reports here.
- Community Outreach: Outreach around the ECCC’s cases including television series broadcast on major Cambodian networks focusing on Case 001, Case 002 and most recently on issues of sexual violence during the Democratic Kampuchea period.
- Legal Education: Capacity-building for law lecturers in teaching fair trial rights using interactive teaching methodologies. An interactive fair trial rights curriculum has also been developed in Khmer and English.
- Research: Periodic legal and other research projects has been conducted around a range of issues, particularly those related to the ongoing cases at the ECCC.
Asian International Justice Initiative: The Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI) is a collaboration between the East-West Center and the WSD Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Stanford University. AIJI was formed in 2006 when the Handa Center was known as the Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center (WCSC). The Center moved from Berkeley to Stanford in 2013. AIJI combines the Asia-Pacific regional expertise of the East-West Center with the transitional justice research and human rights training capabilities of the Handa Center and has projects across the ASEAN region. Under the AIJI umbrella, the Handa Center and EWC work in close partnership with regional and country-specific institutions to implement programs that generally promote human rights education, understanding and awareness of internationally recognized fair trial standards, and requirements for the accountability and the rule of law, especially in international criminal trials and human rights proceedings in national courts. All projects are directed by Professor David Cohen, a leading expert in international humanitarian law and international criminal law.
The East-West Center promotes better relations and understanding among the people and nations of the United States, Asia, and the Pacific through cooperative study, research, and dialogue. Established by the U.S. Congress in 1960, the Center serves as a resource for information and analysis on critical issues of common concern, bringing people together to exchange views, build expertise, and develop policy options. The Center is an independent, public, nonprofit organization with funding from the U.S. government, and additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and governments in the region.
Established in 2013 at Stanford University, the WSD Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice succeeds and carries on all the work of the University of California at Berkeley’s War Crimes Studies Center (‘WCSC’), which was established by Professor David Cohen in 2000. Since its founding over a decade ago, the Center has been dedicated to promoting the rule of law, accountability, and human rights around the world, in post-conflict settings, developing countries, and in societies grappling with difficult legacies from a historical period of violent conflict. Through research and international programs, the WSD Handa Center supports and helps improve the work of domestic courts, international tribunals and human rights commissions around the world. Relying on a small core group of lawyers, scholars, student interns, and volunteers, the Center concentrates its resources where it can make a real difference helping people make sense of the past, come to terms with periods of violent social upheaval, and build institutions that will promote justice and accountability.
Khmer Rouge Trial Monitor 