ECCC wants $167 million for more staff

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 17 / 02, January 24 - February 7, 2008

As the judicial side of the court creaked slowly forward, the court revised its own budget upwards to $169.7 million, covering an additional two years and the trials of eight defendants, according to January 30 court documents.

There was no immediate reaction from tribunal funders. If the revised budget is approved by tribunal donors, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia would last until 2011.
The Japanese are the largest contributor to the tribunal budget. Others are Britain, France, the European Union and India.

According to the new documents, the budget for the UN side of the tribunal has leapt from an original $43 million to $134 million with the vast majority of it, some $99 million, going on administration.

The Cambodian side of the tribunal would get $35 million with the lion’s share again going to administration.

According to Rupert Skilbeck, head of the ECCC defense support section, there are many different ways to run a hybrid tribunal, some expensive and some cheap. The cheapest example of a UN hybrid tribunal was in East Timor, where the initial budget was just $6 million.

Another more cost-effective example of a hybrid tribunal is the court of Bosnia and Herzegovina where, with a budget of some $10 million per year, they are currently trying 400 individuals for war crimes and serious crimes.

“That budget was difficult to achieve but it was done by excluding all unnecessary costs that were secondary to the judicial process and by setting local salaries at competitive levels,” Skilbeck said. “For example, all staff, including judges in the court, have to catch the bus to work. The court has no vehicles.”

Moreover, at the Bosnia and Herzegovina tribunal it was determined there was no need for security. Skilbeck said one other way the Bosnia trial kept costs down was by having a very streamlined administrative staff – for example, a personnel department of two to manage a staff of 400.

The vast majority of the new revised budget, however, would go on staffing. The number of staff in the ECCC’s judicial offices has doubled, and overall the court will be adding 28 UN posts.
The revised staffing rates for the UN side of the tribunal are now estimated at 168 posts of which 65 are in the judicial offices and 103 in the Office of Administration. The Cambodia side of the tribunal is estimated to need 362 posts with 62 of those being in the judicial offices and 300 in the Office Administration.

This estimate does not include a salary for the proposed Special Advisor, a position many donors are eager to see established as soon as possible. The Cambodian government is not in favor of the idea. According to several sources, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An told the UN last week the position was not necessary.

“It is broadly acknowledged that there have been problems at the ECCC in terms of management of this project and we would be grateful for any help we can get,” said Skilbeck.

“Any international court needs expert advice on how to operate. And now, with six international tribunals under its belt, there are individuals with a broad range of experiences on how best to run hybrid tribunals. It would be silly not to take advantage of that expertise in order to make the ECCC as efficient as possible.”

The original budget of $56.3 million for three years was to pay for five to ten persons to be tried.