Biographic28,821
Bibliographic93,161
Record No
លេខឯកសារ
|
VPA-KP0056 | |
Name
ឈ្មោះ
|
Kem Kuon
កែម កួន
| |
Gender
ភេទ
|
Female
ភេទ: ស្រី
|
|
Age
អាយុ
|
67 | |
Nationality
|
Khmer
|
|
Ethnicity
|
Khmer
|
|
Birth Place
|
Prey Ta Prit village, Sdach Kung commune, Banteay Meas district, Kampot province
|
|
Occupation
|
Housewife
|
|
Current Address
|
Prey Ta Prit village, Sdach Kung Lech commune, Meanteay Meas district, Kampot province
|
|
Mode Participation
|
Complainant
|
|
Request Protective Measures
|
No;
|
|
Prefer form of Reparation
|
School
|
|
Main Crime Date
កាលបរិច្ឆេទឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មសំខាន់ៗ
|
1975 |
Main Crime Location
|
The loss of my family members Beginning on victory day, April 17, 1975, to 1979, I lost eight family members. On liberation day, April 17, 1975, while we were travelling back to our home village (current address), one of our children, the third child, died along the way of starvation. On liberation day, after deciding to return to our home village, it took my family a month to walk back home. Two or three days after we arrived, my father also died of starvation and exhaustion as a result of walking such a long distance. In April 1976, I learned that my husband had been arrested in the afternoon when he went to climb palm trees. Another palm tree climber told me, that my husband had been arrested. I do not know which “education place my husband was taken to. Ta Kroan, the other palm tree climber, only told me, that my husband had been taken away. I do not know who was responsible for his arrest. They arrested my husband in the Prey Taprech village. I think that he was arrested having been accused of being a former Lon Nol soldier. In 1977, my eighth daughter died from disease and a lack of milk. At the time, I was sent to work far away from my children. And my daughter was sent to live with elderly women. When she became ill, I took her to Kales, a hospital at Tuok Meas. After an injection, she died. I believe my daughter died, because she was not breast-fed, when I was forced to work far away from her. And there was no medicine at the hospital. I do not know whom should be held accountable for her death. |
Others Crime
|
Forced labor
In 1976, when I was expecting a baby, my eighth child, the Khmer Rouge forced me to work from the moment I found out I was pregnant, almost until the day I gave birth. They forced me to work extremely hard, because I was a new comer. When this incident took place, I lived in this village. At the time, Ta Phan (deceased), was the village chief, and should be held responsible for forcing me to work so extremely hard. All new people (the 17th of April people) were forced to do hard labor. Yey Nhor, who now lives on he Cambodia-Thailand border, knows about this forced labor and can be my witness.
Rape
I was told the Khmer Rouge had arrested and raped a woman named Kay, one of the new people, and then had killed her. One night toward the end of 1976, two or three Khmer Rouge militiamen came to arrest her. I do not know who these Khmer Rouge militiamen were, or why they arrested Kay. I am not certain about where she was rapped and whom should be held accountable for this incident. I believe that Ta Tun, the militiamen chief (deceased), should be held accountable for this incident.
|
Date Completion of Form
កាលបរិច្ឆេទនៃការបំពេញបែបបទ
|
20081021 | |
Petitioner
អ្នកដាក់ញ្ញាត់
|
No; | |
Copyright: | © DC-CAM | |
រក្សាសិទ្ធិដោយ: | © មជ្ឈមណ្ឌលឯកសារកម្ពុជា |
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Biographic28,821
Bibliographic93,161
Location
Date
1970 to 197515,209
1975 to 198022,829
1980 to 198511,450
1985 to 199012,169
1990 to 199510,122
1995 to 20001,254
2000 to 20104,840
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Credit Line: Documentation Center of Cambodia's Archives.
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This website was funded in part by a grant (Documentation and Democracy) from the United States Department of State. The opinions, findings and conclusions stated herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development.
Concept by Ean Panharith and Youk Chhang
© 2023 Documentation Center of Cambodia
The Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide
By Youk Chhang
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide stands alongside the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as one of the key pillars of international human rights law, and for this Human Rights Day in 2022, I want to highlight the critical importance of the responsibility to prevent atrocity crimes, which includes genocide. When atrocity crimes occur, there is an immediate need to stop these atrocious acts, followed by the equally urgent tasks of documenting, investigating, and ultimately prosecuting the perpetrators. However, from 1948 to today, we have not given enough attention to true prevention.
Atrocity crimes do not occur in a vacuum. There is a long chain of events and conditions that precede atrocity crimes. Isolation, segregation, and discrimination frequently, if not always, precede the rationalization of atrocity crimes against a group of people. And before people are discriminated against, they must be dehumanized. The process of dehumanization depends upon rationalizing hatred and distrust, and these processes are precipitated by misinformation, fueled by uninformed biases, stereotypes, and exploitative actors. They are also frequently dependent upon the disintegration, corruption, or lack of development of critical institutions, in particular institutions dedicated to dialogue and education. It is here that we must dedicate our greatest attention.
Since 1948, we have made great strides toward taking actions that interrupt, mitigate, and to a very limited extent, punish the chief perpetrators of atrocity crimes; however, these actions are not preventative but reactive in nature. No atrocities crime trial has ever prevented the next genocide, and no sanctions or punishment can bring back the dead or undo the trauma that extends across multiple generations. Indeed, the trauma of atrocity crimes in the distant past are often the forgotten seeds for the next wave of violence and inhumanity of the future.
If we are to truly adopt strategies that are effective, far reaching, and decisive in preventing atrocity crimes, then our priorities must be re-oriented to the opposite end of the spectrum, where the seeds of the next genocide are cultivated. Our responsibility in complying with foundational human rights documents should be measured not solely by our success at responding, investigating, and prosecuting atrocity crimes, but by our efforts in supporting institutions, initiatives, and actions that have a positive influence in preventing all forms of inhumanity. The most effective strategy at preventing the next genocide is centered on actions and policies that interrupt and reduce the risk of escalation at the earliest stages of inhumanity.
Cambodia recently removed human rights days from public calendars. I think we should reconsider this collective decision. Cambodia has achieved extraordinary success in its genocide education programme, which is the essence of atrocity crimes prevention. And so, to capitalize on this success and Cambodia’s regional and even global leadership in this area, we should hold an annual dialogue on the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. As the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) closes its doors, there is no better time than now to preserve Cambodia’s leadership and momentum in realizing the core objectives of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) is proud of the support it has given to the ECCC’s work, which was fundamental to giving victims an opportunity to participate in the justice process and realize some sense of closure from the Khmer Rouge genocide. DC-Cam is also eager to support an annual conference on the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. As we commemorate this Human Rights Day, we would be mindful to recognize our fundamental human rights documents are not only universal commitments, but also standards for evaluating the kind of world we are leaving for the next generation.
—————
Youk Chhang is Executive Director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia. The Center dedicating to Justice, Memory, and Healing for survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide.
Photo above: Children at Angkor Wat, 1979. After the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime on 7 January 1979, hundreds of thousands of children were left orphaned. From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge led Cambodia into tragedy causing the deaths of over 2 million people. Although two millions were killed, five millions more survived to tell their story. The perpetrators of these crimes also survived. Photo: Documentation Center of Cambodia Archives.
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