Judges, prosecutors set to attend workshops by German NGO KAS

THE Ministry of Justice and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) of Germany will co-host a workshop late in November to exchange experiences and strengthen the capacities of judges and prosecutors in response to social developments, especially money laundering and human trafficking.

Justice ministry secretary of state Chin Malin led an online October 31 meeting with KAS representatives to Asia to discuss continued cooperation. The meeting established plans to implement training workshops for the ministry’s officials, including judges and prosecutors.

At the meeting, they discussed the workshop, and also a study tour of Cambodian judges and prosecutors to Germany early next year to visit the country and examine their legal practices, according to the ministry’s press statement.

Malin told The Post that the two sides have worked together on many training programmes, as well as in other areas.

“This time, the focus is on new developments in money laundering, human trafficking and drug dealing. We need to adopt new skills and techniques to suppress these transnational crimes,” he said.

He added that the upcoming workshop was an opportunity for both sides to share experiences with and learn from each other.

“Twenty to 30 attendees, including law enforcement officials, judges, prosecutors and officials from the ministry will attend a workshop on money laundering and human trafficking later this month,” he said.

Am Sam Ath, deputy director of rights group LICADHO, said the training session and sharing of experience are good for Cambodia.

He added that although Cambodia has many judicial officials, some of them need to gain a better understanding of justice, in particular judges, prosecutors and court officials. He hoped that the further experience of international standards would develop and improve the court system.

“We have heard many requests from the international community and the UN for Cambodia to reform the legal system and the judiciary, to ensure it is independent and has the trust of the public,” he said.

He added that professional practices are one thing, but there remains a lot of criticism of the Kingdom’s court system. There were still gaps in certain areas, he suggested, including international standards and human rights, and labour and commercial courts had yet to be established, along with a branch which would focus on women and children.

According to the justice ministry, KAS signed a threeyear Memorandum of Understanding with the ministry, which focused on the development of the capacities of legal institutions. Its goal is to support legal reform programmes and the courts.