Sokem and Sophoes, IBJ Lawyer Assistant at the Court of Appeal in front of IBJ office in Phnom Penh

Sokem was living in a village nearby and had already been to see Veng and his family in the surroundings. On December 31, 2004, he was arrested by judicial police officers. Sokem did not understand what was happening and he was taken straight to the prison, to be held in pretrial detention. From that day on, he was to stay in jail for ten years. Shortly after his arrest and detention, he was taken to court where he was informed that he was charged with premeditated murder and use of illegal weapon, incurring life imprisonment according to article 200 of the Cambodian Criminal Code. No one informed him of his right to seek legal representation. He was languishing, waiting in prison prior to being summoned for his trial on March 13, 2006.

Before the first trial hearing, the court assigned Sokem a lawyer that he just met one time before the lawyer had to defend his case in front of the judges. Sokem did not know whether he was a private lawyer, or a lawyer from the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, assigned to represent his case pro bono. As a matter of fact, he was charged with a felony and, in this case, legal representation at the trial hearing is mandated by the Cambodian Criminal Code of Procedure.

At that point, Sokem still did not know why he had been arrested and he did not understand the criminal procedure which was unfolding before his eyes. For the first hearing, Veng’s family who had joined the procedure as civil parties gave confused answers about the description of the alleged perpetrators. During the second trial hearing, they presented witnesses who did not clearly remember the physical appearance of the offender. But when they saw Sokem, they affirmed that they knew him. The court followed their testimony and sentenced Sokem to 15 years of imprisonment. Sokem does not remember what his lawyer said for his defense at that time, but he had clearly not brought exculpatory evidence in favor of his client. Yet, after the announcement of the decision, the lawyer advised Sokem to appeal the judgment. After that, Sokem did not hear anything on the development of his case. He was still in the Correction Center 3, a provincial prison located in the neighboring province of Kampong Cham, and only knew that his cases had been sent to Phnom Penh for the appeal process.

The Court of Appeal opened the case on February 19, 2010, six years after the fact. Sokem was not informed of the hearing and was not able to attend it. In compliance with Cambodian criminal procedure, when the accused does not appear for trial and there is no proof that he had knowledge of his citation to the court hearing, the Court of Appeal issued a “default judgment” in his absence². In this decision, the Court of Appeal upheld Sokem’s sentence.

Late 2014, IBJ received the case as part of one of its projects with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHOCHR) in Cambodia. Sokem’s case was one on the list of people identified by the UNOHCHR with appeal proceedings pending for more than five years and with no trace of their trial documents. The IBJ lawyer and lawyer assistant investigated at the Court of Appeal on Sokem’s case and found out that he was never notified of the Court of Appeal’s hearing and judgment. The IBJ team met Sokem in prison and informed him of the current status of his case. In these circumstances, the only action available for the defense of the accused person is to submit a motion against the default judgment once the accused has got actual knowledge of it. The motion has the effect of voiding the judgment which was issued in the absence of the accused. The IBJ lawyer submitted the motion to the Court of Appeal on December 24, 2014. As a result, the Court of Appeal had to entirely re-examine Sokem’s case.

In preparation for the new hearing, the IBJ lawyer met with Sokem’s family and friends and found out that he had an alibi against the accusation which had already cost him heavily. His friends could testify that at the time of the incident, Sokem was fishing with them in another place, far from the crime scene.

The IBJ lawyer convinced the witnesses to provide their testimony at the Court of Appeal, while at the same time arranging Sokem’s transportation for the 225 km separating CC3 from Phnom Penh for him to attend his trial. During the trial hearing, on February 20, 2015, the lawyer called the witnesses who, by their testimony, brought in the case an important exculpatory element. The lawyer also backed his defense strategy on the civil party’s hesitations and unclear answers regarding the identification of the offender. Becoming convinced of the weaknesses of the accusation against Sokem, the Court of Appeal acquitted him.

After 10 years spent in jail in very unclear circumstances, Sokem was able to walk out of the court room cleared of all charges when the Court of Appeal announced its final decision on March 9, 2015. Before this misfortune, Sokem did not know that organizations such as IBJ existed. He went through a very difficult time in prison, lacking proper food, appropriate care when he fell sick, and with only one or two visits from his family per year. His wife and four children could not afford frequent travels to the prison. Sokem entirely feels the meaning of the five years of imprisonment he was saved from thanks to IBJ’s intervention. Still recovering from this painful experience, Sokem is taking time to rest before having to find a new job to support his family and ensure that they have a brighter future.

Jeanne Salomé, March 2015

Ms. Bijoya Chnada, advocate for IBJ Justicemakers, introducing the workshop to participants

On the 1st of June 2014, IBJ India organised a one day workshop dealing with the contentious issue of ‘Custodial Violence – its Prevention and Remedies‘ in the state of West Bengal. The workshop took place at the Indian Institute of Training and Development (IITD) in Joka, Kolkata and focused primarily on raising awareness and sensitising the various stakeholders of the criminal justice system in West Bengal. The various sessions held throughout the day sought out experts, social workers, direct functionaries and other key stakeholders in the correctional home system. It endeavoured to cull out a comprehensive reflection of the state of affairs prevailing within the confines of the correctional homes that abet torture. The sessions aimed to improve the competence of the prison administration and correctional home settings in West Bengal in the hope to see through the prevention of custodial torture.

The training sessions saw the appearance of stalwarts in the prison administration system such as Mr. Adhir Sharma, IPS (Additonal Director General of Prisons and Inspector General of West Bengal Correctional Services). Moreover, Prof. Sujao Bhadra made presentations to address the issues, prospects and challenges that are being confronted by the correctional services system in West Bengal.

Prof. Sujato Bhadra answering participants’ queries

The prisons of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal are currently governed by a very progressive legislation called the West Bengal Correctional Services Act, 1992. Enacted w.e.f 2000, the act seeks to impart human dignity, rights to a fair trial and the due process of law, entitlements to the access to justice and after care services to the prisoners. The act seeks to turn the aim of incarceration from being retributive to reformative. In doing so, it suggests education, sports and cultural activities as avenues to achieve such reformation.

However, the implementation of this progressive legislation is hindered by a few problems such as overcrowded prisons, which consists a large number of undertrial prisoners. Other issues include: the lack of legal awareness on part of the undertrials, indigence and lack of familial support. More specific to the correctional homes in West Bengal are the concerns around the high number of Bangladeshi nationals serving prison terms who are unable to be repatriated due to lack of documentation.

Another major problem is the lack of an effective after-release system consequently leading to a situation where prisoners who are convicted for life term offences are affected far more heavily by such incarceration in comparison to other prison inmates. This typically is the case as most life term prisoners leave the prison with scant savings, poor mental and physical health and almost no means to reintegrate themselves into the mainstream society due to a prolonged deprivation. They have no form of health or unemployment benefits and have a significantly lower chance of finding a permanent job due to the label of being a convict.

The workshop also delved deeper into other issues such as custodial torture and early access to counsel as an effective preventive strategy to impart dignity and integrity to those still in incarceration.

The workshop was able to bring to the forefront a diverse range of issues and further enlighten the prison authorities by building awareness, doing training and having discussions around the ways to deal with the challenges they face in a more effective and uniform manner.

Mr. Adhir Sharma, IPS -Additonal Director General of Prisons and Inspector General of West Bengal Correctional Services, interacting with the participants

July 22nd, 2014

At 16 years old, Vannak[1] found himself being interrogated by two police officers – in fear that if he did not provide a confession for crimes he knew nothing about, he would be subjected to violence. The officers did not inform him of his right to a lawyer, and he feared the “large officer” would “punish him by hit[ting] him” if he did not provide the answers they sought. Vannak “was afraid, so [he] did what they said” and ‘confessed’ to serving as an accomplice to intentional damage to property and intentional violence – crimes which, given these particular circumstances, would warrant up to 15 years in prison and over 10 million riel ($2,000 USD) in fines[2].

Vannak’s friend had been in a fight a few days before police stopped Vannak in an internet shop and arrested him last November. Vannak had heard about the fight, but had no idea that since then his friend had attacked his foe with a knife, injuring the victim and damaging the victim’s house where the attack took place. When police questioned a friend of the perpetrator, he lied and implicated Vannak in the crime. However, the day the attack took place, Vannak had been hanging out with a friend, playing volleyball amongst other things.  When the police questioned Vannak, he was forced to give a coerced confession for a crime he was unaware even happened.

Vannak recounts his experience in prison

After six hours in the police post, which is almost two hours from the Battambang/Thailand border-town where Vannak lives with his mother, Vannak was allowed to call his mother, and then was taken to the prison. However, because necessary prison admission forms had not been signed, and it was too late at night to find a judge to do so, Vannak was brought back to the police post where he slept for one night. It was not until his hearing the next morning that the judge informed him he should have a lawyer. The court clerk referred Vannak’s mother to IBJ when she arrived at the courthouse, after frantically rushing from their town to the Battambang court – a costly journey that she had to take multiple times during this ordeal.

After meeting with Vannak’s mother just a few days after Vannak’s arrest, Sothea (the provincial lawyer here in DRC 6) took on Vannak’s case in its earliest stages. The investigating judge dismissed the case against Vannak after Sothea presented Vannak’s friend who had spent the day with him on the date of the incident as a witness. Sothea further pointed out that there was no evidence indicating Vannak’s involvement in this crime.

Although the investigating judge dismissed the charges, the dismissal did not occur until after Vannak spent 15 days inside the prison. I wrote previously about the conditions a minor kept in the prison here in Battambang can face (see http://ow.ly/yDZ58), and the conditions Vannak faced were very similar. He spent his days in a five by five meter cell with 20 other inmates, finding both sleep and food scarce, but able to use his mornings for exercise. Vannak felt he was lucky, as he said new prisoners were often made to stay in the bathrooms until space opened up in the cells; however, because the prison guards took a liking to him, he instead stayed in the overcrowded cell.

Me (legal intern), Vannak[1], Vannak’s Mother, Kalyan (lawyer assistant); Taken at their home.

[1] Name changed for client’s privacy.

[2] Art. 29, 218, 414, Cambodia Criminal Code (CCC) (2009).

On June 26, 2014, the IBJ China Program office in Beijing hosted an interfaith vigil event for the purpose of sending the message to end torture worldwide.  During the vigil, prayers and sermons from various faiths were recited by employees and interns at the IBJ, which included messages from the Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist communities.  Each prayer or sermon contained a theme of ending torture and promoted peace and healing.

IBJ’s Beijing staff at the Beijing Bell Tower

The IBJ China team posted IBJ banners in our office during the vigil and also lit incense on an altar at the office.  After the vigil, the IBJ team went to various locations around Beijing to take additional photos with the IBJ Vigil banners, including the famous Drum Tower in Guloudajie, the Bell Tower in Guloudajie, and the Bird’s Nest site in the Beijing Olympic Center.

IBJ’s China staff at their office in Beijing

What made this event so worthwhile was that it gave the IBJ China office a chance to step back and reflect on the IBJ’s short-term and long-term goals in the aspect of torture.  We were reminded of Karen Tse’s message for why this is such an important and meaningful cause, and her experiences are a significant driving force behind the IBJ’s projects.  This vigil demonstrated how people of different faiths and different cultures could unite in achieving the same peaceful resolution, and that message was truly inspiring to me.

IBJ’s team at Bell & Drum towers in Beijing, China

After reciting the prayers and messages from different faiths during the vigil, I was reminded of the significance and value of the IBJ’s work around the world, and I felt further motivated to contribute to the IBJ in any way that I can.  I truly hope that other IBJ workers and volunteers around the world were as affected by this vigil in the same way that I was.  No matter what our faiths or backgrounds are, we can all work together in achieving our goals if we continue to stay motivated and remain persistent.  For all these reasons, the vigil was a great success and I am truly grateful for having this experience with my IBJ team!

Waiting to board the boat

Tharun told me not to stay inside the car while crossing the river. I soon realized the ferry itself was quite fragile! But I was already on it and it started its journey across this very wide river. My eyes fell on the orange life vests hanging on a line around the ferry. Judging from the number of people on the ferry, there weren’t enough life jackets. In front of our car was a white mini van. Soon a group of youngsters got off and seemed relieved to be outside. A member of this group, a young girl, talked to me and said, “All things bad happened to us.” The group was from Israel and they were travelling across Cambodia in a mini van. The air conditioning of the van has broken down and they waited for two hours in a garage, trying to repair it. Finally, the driver told them the bad news: there is going to be no air conditioning through rest of the journey. It was a hot day and she told me there were ten of them packed inside the van. They kept the windows open but that did not help them much. They looked quite distraught. They were enjoying the nice breeze while crossing the river. They somehow learned from Vandeth that there is going to be another 5-hours-or-so journey after the river crossing to Siem Reap.

Crossing the river to Siem Reap

Right next to me was a young Buddhist monk, holding a laptop power cable in his hand, and sitting on a moto with a laptop briefcase hanging on his shoulder. I looked carefully and to my amusement, he was wearing Gucci glasses; fake or not, they looked great on him. I had a brief chat with him. He was glad to hear that I was from Sri Lanka, the place from where Buddhism came to Cambodia. Then one of the youngsters from Israel overheard our conversation and told me before they arrived in Cambodia they spent a month in Hikkaduwa in Sri Lanka and they loved it there. I was looking for Vandeth and he was sitting with the captain of the boat on an elevated platform. It was a makeshift boat and I was amazed that it was able to move all of us across the river.

Buddhist monk wearing Gucci glasses

We were across the river and people started getting off and offloading their cargo. Soon my eyes caught a young girl about eight years old carrying an enormous package on her head. Soon we hit the road and were on our way to Siem Reap, which is famous for Cambodia’s historical treasures, Angkor Wat. But soon I realized that not all of us were sure which route to take since neither Vandeth nor Tharun has travelled this route. Somehow we managed without getting lost. I witnessed the most shocking incident during this stretch of our journey. A mini van was trying to avoid children running across the road and it gone off the road and overturned. A number of passengers were in critical condition. We stopped to see what we could do. They have already informed the hospital and the ambulance was on its way. But I was really worried about a couple of men, whose situation looked serious. Then someone showed a young man lying by the bus and it was the driver, who had been thrown off the bus and died due to the impact. It was not a pretty sight to see. We then saw the ambulance arriving. For the rest of the journey, I could not stop those images from the accident from flashing through my mind.

Girl offloading cargo from boat

We arrived in Siem Reap at dusk. Tharun arranged for us to dine at a place where there was an unlimited supply of dishes just for $6. On the stage, young girls and boys danced and performed Ramayana. Tharun told me, these are the real Apsaras of Cambodia. After dinner I went looking for the night market. It was bustling with tourists and my unforgettable experience of the evening was to see a number of places where there were tanks of tiny fish where you could do fish massages! I saw tourists sitting by these tanks, putting their legs with water just below their knees and tiny fish were busy eating dead skin off the feet. Some asked me to join them but I could not pull myself to do that. The shops were keen to put up a notice stating: “These are not piranhas.” I walked quite bit, had a late night snack and returned to have a good night sleep.

Walking around the night market

Next morning we visited Angkor Wat. I was joking in an email to my colleagues when I said that I have visited Cambodia a dozen of times but never visited Angkor Wat. They took this comment quite seriously and arranged my journey to pass by Siem Reap. We spent a few hours visiting a few temples. I was truly amazed by the craftsmanship of ancient Cambodians. But I was disappointed to find too many tourists, especially from China and South Korea, visiting there at the same time in big groups and, at times, not respecting the serenity of the place.

We were soon off to Banteay Meanchey where IBJ was piloting a Public Defender Office type project. Our office was in the court compound and the office room was provided to us by the Ministry of Justice. I met with the Legal Fellow, her assistant and the administrator. It was a small office and there was no place for the lawyers to interview the clients. Vandeth later told me that when the lawyers have to interview the clients, the staff has to leave the office and stand outside.  At the time of our visit, Kunthol was taking part in the monthly conference call between other legal fellows in various provinces and the staff at the Phnom Penh office. Soon, Tharun joined this call too. I was glad, despite technological glitches, they were using this time to share experiences and to inspire one another.

IBJ staff investigator (left), Sanjee (center), IBJ staff administrator (right) at the Phnom Penh Office

We had a little time before our meeting with the court officials. Vandeth and I left for the prison, which is a good 4km away. We finally reached the prison and it was a newly built compound. However, Vandeth told me that during the rainy season the whole area would flood and prisoners and detainees would be temporarily relocated to other prisons. My mission was to meet up with a detainee who is a lawyer. He is one of first 25 post Khmer Rouge defense lawyers Karen Tse, Francis James and Joyce Bang have trained. We visited him and he was very happy to see a “special envoy” from Karen Tse visiting him in the prison. Soon, another member of the 25-first-defense-lawyer group, Cheam Dara, joined Vandeth, him and me. It was a mini reunion and I felt for a moment that the detainee lawyer has forgotten that he is a detainee and was cherishing the time with his compatriots. The detainee lawyer told us that there are many juveniles in the detention centre who are allegedly involved with drug-related offenses. Apparently, a lot of young people in this province are lured into drug trafficking across the border into Thailand. We bid farewell and left the prison.

Sanjee (left), Deputy President of the Court (center), Vandeth (right)

I also met with the President of the Court, the Chief Judge and the Chief Prosecutor. They all thanked IBJ for its services. When I asked the Chief Judge of the quality of the services provided by the IBJ lawyer, he told Vandeth and I, “You do not have a lawyer, you only have a half a lawyer.” We were quite puzzled by this remark and asked him to explain. He then told us that the one lawyer IBJ has spent 50% of her time in prison interviewing clients and the other half in the courtroom. The Judge was clearly not satisfied with this arrangement. He recommended IBJ to have two lawyers at the DRC. This sentiment was echoed also by the Chief prosecutor. He told us that when two criminal trials are simultaneously taking place in two courtrooms, one courtroom has to wait until the other completes the trial since they only have one lawyer, IBJ’s legal fellow, Nop Kunthol.

Sanjee (left), Chief Prosecutor (center), Vandeth (right)

Vandeth, Tharun and I bid farewell to our colleagues at the BM DRC and walked towards our car, which was parked just outside the gate of the Court compound. Tharun and I got into the car and found Vandeth missing. Right then I saw he was walking away from us towards a house. We saw the most unusual thing. He was looking for a stick and then started plucking huge yellow flowers off a big tree. It seemed like there was nobody in the house and Vandeth continued to pluck these huge flowers. Tharun and I were looking at each others’ face trying to comprehend what was going on: is he stealing flowers from someone’s tree? Quite atypical of Mr. Vandeth! Right then we saw a woman and a man on a moto coming and stopping in the front yard of the house. I thought: My God, Mr. Vandeth is in trouble now, the owners of house has arrived and has “caught him red-handed’ plucking flowers from their tree. Most surprisingly, Mr. Vandeth was quite focused on plucking flowers by bending thin branches down and did not see the owners arriving and walking towards him. At that point, I was thinking of the worst. Then the most unexpected thing happened: the young man who walked towards Mr. Vandeth helped him to bend the branches down making it easier for him to pluck flowers. “What is going on here?” I thought to myself.  After that, the owners went inside the house and Mr. Vandeth walked towards the car with about 10 to 15 flowers, each with more than 15cm diameter.  We anxiously asked him what happened and how he “stole flowers and did not get into trouble.” He had a cheeky smile on his face and explained, “The head of that household used to work with me in the military many decades ago. The woman was his wife and the young man was his son.” So, they knew each other! But how can we expect that the house belonged to Mr. Vandeth’s friend? Mr. Vandeth’s social network was wider and stronger than most of us on Facebook.

Vandeth plucked flowers from his friend’s home

I was sufficiently warned about the road to Ratanakiri. I was expecting a rough ride. After lunch at the Kratie floating village and missing the opportunity to see river dolphins off the coast of Kratie in the Mekong river, we set off towards Stung Streng.  When we arrived at the beginning of the 60km stretch we realized how bad the road was. Tharun had to navigate through huge potholes gently. And Vandeth maintained his humor during this painful stretch telling me, “This is the massage road.” The vehicle shakes so much we get massaged until the whole body was sore. We saw the road ahead of us disappeared in the dust and the distant vehicles slowly began to appear as the dust settled in. A lonely dog in the middle of the highway enjoyed his moment as he walked faster than most of the vehicles on the road. Quite unexpectedly, after about 40km, I fell asleep. And when I woke up, Vandeth told me, “The massage is now over,” and we were on a smooth and flat highway again en route to Ratanakiri.

The “massage” road – a bumpy journey to Ratanakiri

We arrived at Ratanakiri at dusk after 10 hours. We and Tharun’s car survived the “massage road.”  Banglung city in Ratanakiri was somewhat different from what I expected. There were new building developments and small establishments. The hotel I stayed at was built not long ago and it was a decent and clean place. After freshening up, we set off for dinner with the Acting President of the Court, Chief Prosecutor and the Chief of Prison. We were at a restaurant by the lake. The first question to me came from the Chief Prosecutor, who was quite prosecutorial, was “Why did you come here?” I was a bit startled. I was thinking how to answer. I thought the best thing to do was to tell the truth: “I always wanted to come here and every time I visited Cambodia, the length of the trip to Ratanakiri made me postpone the idea of visiting here. But this time, I really wanted to come and to see Mao Sary and his team at the IBJ office.”  He was satisfied with the answer. Then I asked him why he asked that question. When he began to answer I only then realized the question was a compliment for me coming here. He told me, “No person from the capital wants to come here, not even my relatives want to visit me here. So I am very pleased to see a foreigner coming here to visit us. And we welcome you.”

Vandeth (top left), Chief Prosector (bottom left), Chief of Prison (second to left), Chief Judge (bottom center), Sanjee (top center), IBJ lawyer (second to the right), Deputy Director Tharun (bottom right): Dinner after a rough journey

We had a very frank discussion about the situation of the accused persons. They reminded me that the minority population in Ratanakiri speaks 18 languages and the court has to deal with all these languages without official translators. The Chief Judge and the Prosecutor told me that they are completely dependent upon Mao Sary, IBJ’s Legal Fellow attached to Ratanakiri Defender Resource Center. They told me the trials can progress only because of Sary. They also told me we should not even think about closing our office in Ratanakiri. That was quite an unexpected thing to hear from key justice officials in this province. They urged IBJ to increase its resources to our office in Ratanakiri. We discussed various challenges facing their work, including limited budget for the justice sector in Cambodia. While over hundred million dollars have been spent prosecuting a handful of persons at the ECCC special tribunal in Phnom Penh, the international community has conveniently “forgotten” to allocate at least 10% of that amount to rebuild the justice system in Cambodia.

Office building of the Ratanakiri Provincial Prison

On the 9^th morning, we started our day by having breakfast at a local restaurant where a few young lawyers from Phnom Penh who were visiting their families in Ratanakiri joined us at the table. So, in fact, there ARE lawyers from this region, but they all flee to the capital Phnom Penh for lucrative job opportunities or simply to get rich. Mao Sary, IBJ Legal Fellow here, is from south of Cambodia and he came all the way to this remote area and has been helping the indigenous population here for over four years now, singlehandedly!

IBJ Legal Fellow Mao Sary (right), Sanjee (center), Vandeth (left) outside the Ratanakiri Provincial Prison

Then we visited the Ratanakiri Provincial Prison where the Chief of the Prison gave us a warm welcome. I was completely shocked to see the state of his office building. It was run down and badly needs to be rebuilt. We then had a brief visit to the prison. I quite foolishly asked a stupid question from Sary: “Sary, do you recognize some of your clients here?” Sary, looked at me with amusement, and replied quite seriously, “I know all of them! They are all my clients!” How stupid of me! Of course, he is the only lawyer in the whole province. They are all his clients! The whole population of the prison is represented by one lawyer, Mao Sary!

(from left to right) Tharun, Vandeth, Chief of Prison, Sanjee, Mao Sary

After thanking the Chief of Prison and Sary and his colleagues, we set off on another long journey towards Siem Riep. On the way, we stopped at Stung Streng for lunch where Vandeth and Tharun wanted to try a local fish delicacy. It was a small restaurant and next to our table was a middle-aged couple. Food started arriving at both tables. Vandeth, as usual, started a joke and engaged in a discussion with the lady at the next table. Suddenly, I saw Vandeth got up and went to the next table, examining a dish that had just arrived. He had a little chat and then borrowed a small bowl, served himself a small portion of the dish and returned to our table. He had known them for less than five minutes, and Vandeth was already sharing the dish on their table. I told Tharun that it is quite unusual to see that happening in other places, especially in the West or in Europe where people always order their individual meal. Here, you share not only the dishes on your table, but the dishes from the table next to you. That was Khmer culture at its best: People taking it easy, not being fussy, sharing meals with strangers! I was truly touched!

We then set off to cross the Mekong river again, this time, on a rather small ferry that could only accommodate two small vehicles: our car and a mini van and a dozen motos.

The only defender center in Ratanakiri has kept kids away from the inhuman jail time. However it could potentially close down this month. In order to help keep innocent kids away from pre-trial imprisonment and investigative torture, we are seeking long-term funding for the defender center. Please join this campaign and help us with fundraising to keep Cambodia torture free. http://www.crowdrise.com/afreecambodia/

Since 2009 Ram has continued his work with families affected by enforced disappearance in Nepal. Ram’s father Tej Bahadur Bhandari was kidnapped by state police forces on December 31^st 2001. Along with 1,300 others that were taken by both State and Maoist forces between 1996 and 2006, this record of disappearance has become one of the greatest unaddressed legacies of Nepal’s Civil War.

Families of those disappeared continue to languish in pain while the government by and large continues to overlook the issue. For much of the past 5 years the government has been involved in a number of post conflict transitional justice initiatives including the framing of a new constitution, integrating the state and rebel army and developing a plan for state restructuring. In addition, the comprehensive peace agreement signed in 2006 laid the groundwork for two commissions – one on disappearances and one for truth and reconciliation – meant to deal with the injustices and human rights violations perpetrated during the conflict. Neither of these commissions has been formed and no cases of disappearance, extrajudicial killing or human rights violations have been tried in court. The human rights community has rallied around numerous emblematic cases, bringing much needed attention to some of the violations that took place, but for the most part families continue to wait in silence. While the government has provided some monetary reparation, families seek the truth and remains of their loved ones in order to perform the last nights required in the Hindu tradition.

These are but a few of the barriers to justice and reconciliation for the families of the disappeared in Nepal. The end of the conflict in 2006 brought a surge of hope and belief that the country could and indeed would move forward, forging a ‘New Nepal’ that would respect the rights of its citizens. It is these families and rights that Ram Kumar has been working to defend for the past 5 years. His work began in 2007 and was in large part enabled by the IBJ JusticeMakers Fellowship. Today Ram is the founder and chairman of the National Network of Families of the Disappeared and Missing (NEFAD) that represents more than 1300 families across Nepal that have suffered the disappearance of their loved ones. NEFAD works tirelessly to bring the voices and concerns of these families to the capital, Kathmandu, to be included in the national transitional justice debate.

IBJ’s work focuses on investigative torture, pre-trial detention and the usurping of freedoms within poorly functioning judicial systems. Those who were disappeared during Nepal’s Civil War were done so without legal precedent and without trial. In many cases, including that of Tej Bhandari, people were accused by the state of being rebel supporters and were detained without proof. Unfortunately those violations cannot be undone, but activists like Ram fight everyday to achieve truth and reconciliation for the families. New Nepal has yet to arrive, but gradual progress is being made everyday on these issues and hopefully one day the families of the disappeared in Nepal will be able to rest in peace, having learned the truth about their family members.

If you would like to read more about Ram’s work, please visit the NEFAD  website.

The volunteers went to the prison with the aim of holding a rights awareness evaluation and tuition. The focus was on the knowledge on rights among minors, women, elderly people and the Batwa ethnic minority group.

Old men being sensitized

The awareness evaluation shows that this activity was much needed. Most of prisoners interviewed did not know the procedures of trial; neither did they know that they have the right to legal counsel. Many of the detainees is not even aware of what they are accused of , they have not seen the minutes of custody or did not understand them and some of them was forced to sign the document through means of torture.

As the IBJ team carried out this important task of raising awareness among the prisoners, they dealt with the issues of detention and procedure, explaining how a fair trail should be held, that all accused should at least know the reason for arrest. They also clarified the law concerning torture and pointed out the possibilities of free legal counsel through International Bridges to Justice and its partner APRODH.

Volunteer explaining rights to minors

Not only are these persons subjected to irregular legal procedures, according to what the volunteer team report, they are also living in extremely poor and inhuman conditions. The prisoners get one small meal a day, consisting of one cup of beans and one cup of cassava flour; the facilities are dirty and overcrowded. The only section being cleaner and not overcrowded is the juvenile cell. In Ruyigi, the women and youth are placed in separate cells, apart from the bigger prison where everyone else are staying. This division does not exist in some of the other prisons in the country, although the Ruyigi prison still lacks the separation between those awaiting trail and already condemned prisoners. The situation in the prison are, to no wonder, having impact on the people staying there. According to the director of the prison, the incarcerated Batwa are showing this in a particularly way. They stop doing anything at all, stop caring of what is going on around them, just sitting still in lost hope over their life.

However, the awareness sessions were appreciated,  the visited prisoners were pleased with getting the knowledge and information provided. Receiving the attention made them also see that they are not completely neglected, there are people thinking about them, caring for their rights. One of the most surprising findings was that none of the prisoners had been assisted by a lawyer, this may be due to Ruyigi being such a remote area. The absence of legal assistance though is an deficiency that IBJ is aiming to fulfill, the organization have begun to collaborate with the Gitega Bar association in order to help the Ruyigi prisoners with pro bono legal counsel. Efforts like that are highly required; a result of the awareness activity was that more than 35 out of 64 sensitized expressed their will to be assisted.

Women holding up their hands as part of survey

Sanjeewa Liyanage and Professor Wang Xiu Mei

Mr. Liyanage began by giving a comprehensive description of where torture is brought up in international law, and eventually went on to define torture, citing the UN Convention Against Torture. He explained how the Convention prohibits investigative torture, detailing torture clauses in various international treaties and statutes. He described how freedom from torture is non-derogable, meaning there are no exceptional circumstances whatsoever that may be invoked to justify torture, including war, threat of war, internal political instability, public emergency, terrorist acts, violent crime, and any form of armed conflict. From there, bringing the argument back to the students in the room, Mr. Liyanage highlighted that torture is prohibited in several countries in Asia, including China, and in particular under Chinese criminal law and criminal procedure law.

IBJ’s International Program Director Sanjeewa Liyanage and Beijing Normal University

Mr. Liyanage also spoke at lengths about the current global torture situation. He mentioned where, when, and how torture is practiced, and that torture still regularly occurs in countries where it is expressly prohibited by law. He then posed the contradiction that there are several organizations around the world that work on torture issues, but they, for the most part, address the problem after the torture has already occurred. Instead, Mr. Liyanage argues, the most effective way to prevent torture from happening is to provide the accused with early access to competent and committed counsel. That way, with the presence of a lawyer at the time of arrest, a collaborative dialogue with stakeholders in the justice sector, and public awareness of individuals’ rights, we can prevent torture before it begins. He backed this argument by juxtaposing it with concrete examples of how IBJ programs have contributed significantly to reducing torture as an investigative tool in many countries and localities where IBJ lawyers are actively engaged in safeguarding basic legal rights of ordinary people. Finally, Mr. Liyanage concluded with an optimistic pronouncement that the solution is before us, and that torture can, indeed, be ended during the 21st century. He argued that, at one point, slavery and the apartheid were viewed as something that could not be easily brought to an end. But relentless and strategic efforts by social movements have ended these practices. He explained that to end torture we need to have the will to do so and a viable strategy, remarking that the strategy employed by IBJ could be expanded to reach this goal.

Masters and PhD Law Students at Beijing Normal University

The lecture was very warmly received, and the students confidently posed questions. Many of the law students were so impressed, that they wondered how they could get involved with IBJ efforts in China.