Ms Melanie Klinkner
Nationality: Germany
Year: 2007
Subject Area: Social Sciences
PhD Project: An assessment of the importance of cooperation between lawyers and forensic scientists in post-conflict reconstruction and peace-building.
International criminal law has developed considerably over the last 15 years and since the mid-1980s, forensic scientists have been instrumental in finding, identifying and returning the bodies of missing people on a mass scale. Hence, research into the interplay between lawyers and forensic experts is pressing and topical. Focusing on criminal investigations under the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Khmer Rouge Trials in Cambodia provides the post-conflict context for this research. To examine the cooperation between the parties adequately, visits to Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, Bosnia and Herzegovina and The Hague have been made possible. To date, the research has generated numerous face-to-face in-depth interviews and provided the possibility to consult in person with key stakeholders on the importance of the study and allowed me to gain invaluable first hand experience on the research topic.
Please find attached a picture of me in front of the Independence Monument in Phnom Phen, Cambodia, whilst on a field-trip.