I think we can safely say microfinance is here to stay although I do believe we are still in the very early stages of its development.

But Microjustice…sounds like you get a 5 min court hearing or similar. But no it’s a new form of legal representation using the microfinance model. Let’s face it lawyers don’t come cheap and yet justice is supposed to be a universal right. Right’s can also be expensive but legal activists are pioneering a new approach.

“The similarity between microjustice and microfinance is largely a way of thinking,” Van Swinderen says, “to not look at poor people as victims. Just to be very businesslike serves them much better than to always treat them like poor people who need support. Almost all development programs create a dependency that is not so desirable.”

It’s a small start but could lead to a big change in how legal services are delivered to those less well off.

It’s just year now since I wrote about the death of Dith Pran and Kaing Guek Eav, the commandant of S-21 who was finally put up for trial. Well now the time has come for Duch to face justice, some 30 years after he oversaw the imprisonment, torture and execution of some 15,000 people.

It’s been a long wait for many Cambodians but justice, although seemingly asleep, can be awoken at any time. It’s also a poignant moment for Kiwis as Kerry Hamill, brother of Rob Hamill, the NZ rower, was one of the victims along with a British man, John Dewhirst and a Canadian, Stuart Glass. Their boat had drfited into Cambodian waters in 1978 leaving them at the mercy of the murderous regime. Stuart Glass was killed instantly but John and Kerry made the harsh journey to camp S-21 where they eventually were killed.

Another Kiwi, Dame Silvia Cartwright, is one of the five judges appointed to oversee the trial. It will undoubtedly be a very testing case to judge even though the evidence is quite clear. It will hopefully prompt the international community to look around the world and see if it could be doing more to prevent genocides and other cleansings from taking place.

They could start by looking at the decimation of the Karen people in the world’s No 1 Murder Regime, Mynamar. But there is no shortage of murderous action around the world especially where natural resources are plentiful. Plus ca change………

As for Duch and his explanations, I think we are long past accepting “i was following orders” as any kind of defense for violent action.

As Edmund Burke said “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”