Nearly thirty years ago, the citizens of Cambodia were in the immediate wake of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime. Mass killings, starvation, forced labor, and widespread displacement typified the experience of millions of Cambodians in the 1970s. In 2007 Khmer Rouge Tribunal prosecutors indicted five Khmer Rouge leaders. Their trial is expected to start in early 2008. In a society where so many Cambodians continue to struggle with the aftermath of their country’s violent past, and where many criminals still hold positions of governmental authority, such a trial is likely to excite feelings of anger, humiliation, and hatred among the regime’s surviving victims. Unless attention is paid to these problems in Cambodia, a young generation of industrious and gentle people, seared by confused memories of their parents’ and grandparents’ horrors, could bring history to repeat itself.
Our aim in Cambodia is to increase the capacity of future generations to know their history in order to be able to move beyond it and to help facilitate the older generation of Cambodians in facing their personal, regional and national histories.
The ICfC Office in Cambodia
ICfC recognizes that Cambodia is a country that very much continues to struggle with facing its past and moving forward. The Center’s involvement in Cambodia began in 2004 when staff members traveled to the country for a workshop on memory with young activists from across the political spectrum. ICfC learned that most of the young peoples' lives were deeply and directly affected by the past atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime, yet they had radically different perspectives on what actually happened and who “the enemy” is, or was. ICfC Fellow Adam Saltsman went to Cambodia in January 2006 to launch the first project focused on bringing the Khmer Rouge Tribunal to the remote villages and providing space for dialogues about the Khmer Rouge past. The ICfC established an official presence in Cambodia in March 2007, having expanded projects and opened an office with a four member staff, consisting with one ICfC fellow from the U.S. (Shanti Sattler replaced Adam in July 2007) and three Cambodian colleagues: Kim Vuth, and Muoyly Vichhra.
ICfC Projects in Cambodia ...
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