The Australian Section of the ICJ has long had an interest in the human rights consequences of the Cambodian genocide and it is hoped that this discussion paper will have a real part in a wider understanding of its effects and the requirements of an enduring peace in that country.
This analysis was produced after a visit to Cambodia by Daniel Brezniak, a Sydney lawyer and a member of the Executive Committee of the Australian International Commission of Jurists.
After an examination of the geopolitical origins of the Cambodian situation the paper looks briefly at some aspects genocide and proceeds to an analysis of the legal effect of invasion by the Vietnamese troops at the end of 1978 of Cambodia.
The paper argues that invasion and the use of force in international law can be justified in some situations and that the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia may be justified in some situations and that the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia be just such a situation.
The paper then examines the Genocide Seminar which took place in Cambodia in July, 1989 and proceeds to an examination of the international law of recognition arguing that there are certain internationally wrongful acts of a state which entail an obligation for all other states not to recognise as legal the situation created by such acts.
Cambodia-the cambodian road-thematic report-1989-eng (full text in English, PDF)