PHNOM PENH: The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), also known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, now has a bus that will travel to Cambodia’s provinces to educate the public on the Khmer Rouge era and its legal aftermath.

Acting Administrative Director of the ECCC, Kranh Tony, expects the bus will serve to educate and disseminate information more widely to the public in remote geographical areas. The bus will be a source of information on the ECCC judicial process, achievements and legacy which spanned over 16 years.

At the official launch of the bus on January 31, the Administrative Director said that after the successful completion of the trial at the end of 2022, the ECCC was mandated to perform its remaining legal and non-legal functions from 2023 to 2025, especially in maintaining, archiving and managing archives, in addition to reclassifying case files and disseminating information to the public about the achievements of the ECCC.

He said that the bus is an important part of expanding the scope of the ECCC Resource Center. The organization plans to implement a wide range of outreach and education activities to serve people living in remote areas, especially young people and students. The bus will travel throughout the country, stopping at major locations such as schools, universities, towns, pagodas, markets, and district halls.

"We need to widely publicize the achievements of this work, which is a piece of history through the court case,” he said. “It is not biased. It is professional and neutral. Hopefully we will drive across the 25 provinces, especially [stopping] at educational institutions, universities, and colleges.

The ECCC Mobile Bus is equipped with state-of-the-art technology such as laptops, an LCD screen and projector, and an interactive touch screen panel/ TV that can be used for easy presentation and for video/movie screenings. These and other educational materials and multimedia related to the ECCC trial process will serve the research of the general public and students.

The ECCC officially inaugurated its new Resource Center on September 27, 2023 to preserve and enhance the legacy of the trial process and its archives and to allow the public to access and study the ECCC accountability mechanisms and the judicial process in a more comprehensive format.