1. Cambodia Genocide

2. Perpetrators When: April 17, 1975 – January 7, 1979
Who: Khmer Rouge (Marxism/Maoism)
Pol Pot
( )
Secretary General
Khmer Rouge Co-Founder
Leader of genocide
Kaing Guek Eav
“Duch”
(1942-present)
Director of S-21
Nuon Chea
( )
Prime Minister
The Khmer Rouge was a political group whose goal was to create a society in which everyone was equal; no one individual could have more money, power, food or access to health care than anyone else. To achieve this goal, the Khmer Rouge targeted anyone who could prevent this from happening. These five men were the masterminds behind the Cambodian genocide.
Khieu Samphan
(1931-present)
President
Ieng Sary ( )
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Khmer Rouge Co-Founder

3. Victims Dead: ~2 million people (25% of the total population)
Causes: Execution, torture, starvation, exhaustion, disease
Targets: Intellectuals, educated people, professionals, monks, religious enthusiasts, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Cambodians with Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai ancestry
Refugees: ~830,000
These groups were targeted for their intelligence, experience in the “outside” world and other various reasons the Khmer Rouge believed would impact their goal of creating a politically, socio-economically, religiously and culturally equal society.
Life During Genocide: Everyone, no matter their age or health, had to work in the rice fields from 4am – 10pm every day under threat of death. Every 10th day was a day of rest and 3 days were given off for New Years. The state controlled all aspects of a person’s life: money, property, clothing, jewelry, how they spoke, what they spent their money on i.e. gambling or luxury items. Most reading material and religion were outlawed, agriculture was collectivized, children were taken from their homes and forced into the military, and strict rules governing sexual relations were put into place. The Khmer Rouge renamed the country “Democratic Kampuchea” and insisted on realigning the rice fields to mimic the symmetrical checkerboard pictured on their coat of arms.

4. Tuol Sleng Prison (S21)
The End of Military Use of Schools Campaign works to raise awareness and prevent military usage of schools during wartime. This is a historical example of a military takeover of a high school. The Khmer Rouge took over this high school campus in August of 1975 and turned it into a prison and interrogation center, changing the school’s name to Tuol Sleng, which means “Hill of the Poisonous Trees.” It was also known as S-21. Prisoners were generally there for political reasons or because they required special education. In the top left photo you can see holes cut through the walls and a chalkboard in the background. In these classrooms, the Khmer Rouge built holding cells, made of wood, brick or cement. In the picture to the right you can see the balcony walkway. Guards had to put up barbed wire fencing on all outside passages to prevent prisoners from jumping to their deaths. In the bottom left photo, a sign explains that the gallows were originally part of the school’s playground-turned interrogation location. One technique the soldiers would use was to hang the prisoners upside down with their hands tied until they were unconscious. They would then dunk the prisoner in fertilizer water to wake them up and continue the interrogation. Once the guards had all of the information they needed, prisoners were usually sent to the Killing Fields, if they didn’t die on site.

5. The Killing Fields
After being tortured at S-21, victims of the Khmer Rouge were usually taken to one of the country’s Killing Field sites. These photos are from Choeung Ek, the largest and most notorious Killing Field. At this particular location, nearly one million people were executed, and their bodies tossed into mass graves dug around the orchard. In the bottom right corner photo, you can see several large ditches and uneven ground where bodies were thrown over the four-year genocide. The Killing Fields were not reserved only for prisoners of Tuol Sleng. People who could no longer work in the rice fields were often sent here to be beaten, tortured and killed.
Today, both Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek are national museums and memorials to remember and honor the victims of the Khmer Rouge. The photo in the top middle is a memorial structure that holds the bones of men, women and children who died.

6. Refugees How many?: ~830,000 refugees
Where did they go?: Mostly Thailand and Vietnam.
In 2007, there were approximately 44,000 Cambodians living in Long Beach.
How were they treated?: Most refugees lived in makeshift camps along the ill-defined Thailand and Cambodia border. Many in the camps were starving, had malaria, and were in very poor health. Most of those who settled in the camps lived in squalor with no access to basic services.
Who supported them?: The United Nations Border Relief Operation and private agencies.
Did they go home?: Starting in 1991, UNHCR supervised repatriation efforts that resulted in more than 360,000 Cambodians returning home. The rest were resettled in other countries.
During the genocide, 50,000 Cambodians fled to Thailand and another 150,000 fled to Vietnam. As soon as the Khmer Rouge began to crumble under the onslaught of the Vietnamese in late 1978, a massive exodus of Cambodians began. About 630,000 left Cambodia between 1979 and Due to ongoing violence, by late 1987, 265,000 Cambodians, about 150,000 of them below the age of 15, remained in Thailand. Since the Thai government does not officially recognize refugees, they were grouped in nine camps on the border. Each refugee camp sheltered 50,000-60,000 inhabitants. Journalists reported that an atmosphere of repression and fear prevailed at these facilities. Only a fraction of the refugees in these camps were eligible for resettlement in Thailand.
During the genocide, many Cambodians also fled to Vietnam looking for safety. The Vietnamese did not create refugee camps or provide these refugees basic services so many refugees attempted to move on to other countries. Vietnam was still reeling from their own war and were leading the effort to stop the Khmer Rouge. Refugees were not a high priority for the government.
Many refugees remained abroad for years, fearful of returning to their country and desiring resettlement abroad. In October 1991, a comprehensive peace agreement was reached between the warring parties in Cambodia, which called for the withdrawal of Vietnamese military forces and the creation of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). UNTAC had the responsibility of enforcing a ceasefire, organizing elections for a new Cambodian government, and repatriating Cambodians still in refugee camps in Thailand or in border camps. 260,000 Cambodians were resettled around the world between 1975 and 1997: 136,000 in the United States, 32,000 in France, and 13,000 each in Australia and in Canada.
Unfortunately, nearly one in five Cambodian families in the US continue to live in poverty—almost twice the rate for American families overall. And more than a third of Cambodian-American students drop out of high school. In the last 14 years, the US has deported more than 500 Khmer refugees back to Cambodia for committing crimes as part of an April 2000 repatriation agreement.

7. Summary of Genocide - Timeline
April 17, 1975: Khmer Rouge overthrows King Sihanouk. Phnom Penh’s 2.5 million residents are evacuated and sent to the countryside.
January 7, 1979: Under the leadership of Khmer Rouge defector, Hun Sen, Vietnamese troops take control of Phnom Penh and depose Pol Pot.
1976
1977
1978
1979
1975
1980
1979: A genocide court finds Pol Pot and Leng Sary guilty of genocide. Neither appear in court nor serve any sentence.
: “Re-education” of the general population, encouraging a communal lifestyle. Those who had been exposed to the “outside world” or who refused “re-education” were killed. All others were sent to work on the rice fields.
It took just four years for the Khmer Rouge to wipe out nearly 25% of the total population of Cambodia in an attempt to “purify” the population.

8. What’s Happened Since?
May 1993: Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh are elected Co-Prime Ministers during a UN supervised election.
1998: Civil war ends. Hun Sen becomes Prime Minister.
2001: Cambodia’s National Assembly creates a national court in order to prosecute those who committed serious crimes during the genocide.
June 2007: The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia brings charges against Khmer Rouge leaders. Only 3 Khmer Rouge leaders are tried. Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan were convicted of crimes against humanity. Kaing Guek Eav was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. All were sentenced to life in prison.
July 2018: Hun Sen wins re-election as prime minister.
November 2018: Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan are found guilty of genocide.
In the following 11 years after the genocide, Vietnamese troops controlled Cambodia. In 1991, at the Paris Peace Talks, the Cambodian People’s Party and the supporters of King Sihanouk (who was overthrown by the Khmer Rouge) developed a tentative agreement. The leaders of each party, former Khmer Rouge defector Hun Sen, and Prince Ranarriddh were given provisional co-Prime Minister titles in an effort to create political unity and bring an end to the civil war that continued to rage under Vietnamese control. There was daily conflict and open violence in the streets of Phnom Penh until 2000.
Today, Hun Sen is still the Prime Minister and the country is relatively at peace. However, political corruption, poverty, starvation and lack of education is still rampant. Hun Sen has destroyed all forms of political opposition, as well as forced the closure of all independent media within Cambodia, imprisoning journalists and those working for civil society groups, and banishing many NGOs from entering Cambodia. The government is viewed globally as fiercely autocratic and illegitimate.
Unfortunately, Cambodia’s attempt to bring justice to the victims of the Khmer Rouge has been hampered by corruption within the government. While a handful of people are still on trial, after more than 35 years, only 3 people have been convicted of crimes. Pol Pot died before he could be brought to trial (apparent heart attack, possible suicide). Ieng Sary was pardoned for all crimes by Hun Sen in 1996 because he defected from the Khmer Rouge strong hold in the jungle and brought thousands of soldiers with him. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia reissued charges against Sary, but he died before his trial could be completed. The ECCC has since declared that no more trails will move ahead, despite two other cases against four mid-level officials that remain in limbo.
In general, the people of Cambodia do not let their nation’s past prevent them from moving on. The majority of those who survived the genocide are now in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, and encourage their family members to not forget their history, but realize it is in the past and cannot be erased.

9. Resources Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org/asia/cambodia
Why the world should not forget Khmer Rouge and the killing fields of Cambodia: world-should-not-forget-khmer-rouge-and-the-killing-fields-of-cambodia/
Timeline: The History of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge:
“The Killing Fields” the movie:
re-elected-in-landslide-victory-after-brutal-crackdown
verdict/