The pursuit of justice without considering national reconciliation is not a wise choice. It would make a nation fall into chaos or civil war. Therefore, national reconciliation is a foundation for the pursuit of sustainable peace.
Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, President of the Cambodian People’s Party and Honorary President of the 12th General Assembly of International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), made the comments in his special remarks at the opening ceremony of the 12th ICAPP General Assembly held at the January 7 Palace in Phnom Penh this morning.
Samdech Techo Hun Sen laid stress on the connection between national reconciliation and transitional justice in Cambodia’s search for peace, saying that sustainable peace cannot be achieved if we do not carefully consider other important factors such as national reconciliation, transitional justice, socio-economic integration, as well as international cooperation.
In this sense, Samdech Techo Hun Sen added that “justice cannot be achieved without peace.”
The long wait for justice does not mean that justice is absent or denied, he underlined, pointing out that it took more than a decade to have the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a hybrid court established to try senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime and those most responsible for the regime.
Samdech Techo Hun Sen said his primary objective to establish the hybrid court is to ensure Cambodia’s full participation in the court process, while at the same time guaranteeing international standards of justice.
