Cambodia's tryst with international law

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

9-2019

Abstract

This chapter studies international law in Cambodia. Cambodia’s evolving relationship with public international law must be understood in the context of the nation’s unique history and circumstances, which are marked by colonization, conflict, Vietnamese occupation, territorial administration, civil war, transitional justice, and state-building. Cambodia’s legal system has undergone significant changes from the early days of unwritten customary laws, to the imposition of French civil law, and thereafter the ‘legal vacuum’ created by the ultra-Marxist Khmer Rouge regime that left Cambodia in a state of war and international isolation until the 1980s. The chapter then outlines key aspects of international law in and apropos Cambodia that illustrate Cambodia’s reception of public international law, and its position as an active participant in the international legal system. Cambodia has certainly taken strides in its participation in dispute resolution on the international plane. However, its tryst with international law is a fractious one.

Keywords

Cambodia, Asia, international law, international courts, Khmer Rouge, human rights law, international criminal law, investment treaty, Preah Vihear temple, South China Sea

Discipline

Asian Studies | International Law | Transnational Law

Research Areas

Public Interest Law, Community and Social Justice

Publication

The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Asia and the Pacific

Editor

Simon Chesterman, Hisashi Owada, Ben Saul

ISBN

9780198793854

Identifier

10.1093/law/9780198793854.003.0021

Publisher

Oxford University Press

City or Country

Oxford

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198793854.003.0021

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