Original report from Phnom Penh
27 November 2008
Survivors of the Khmer Rouge want justice for those killed and reparation for the rest.
Not only survivors, but Cambodia’s younger generation too is seeking reparations for the nearly 2 million victims of the Khmer Rouge. Nobody yet knows what exactly that will mean.
“We need hospitals for victims,” Chhou Ny Sinan, project officer for justice and reconciliation of Youth for Peace, said Thursday, during a two-day seminar on reparations for victims. “We need support to build centers for the old, widows and children.”
Victims of the regime, non-governmental agencies and other participants discussed Wednesday and Thursday the needs of victims, as a Khmer Rouge tribunal moves forward.
Some victims said they needed common reparation, such as monuments, schools and hospitals. And they need real justice.
“We need a place that we can pray for the souls of the victims,” said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, whose parents were killed by the regime. Crying, she added: “1.7 million lives, who died, this is costly and we must have respect for them, and give them honors.”
Other survivors of the regime, such Chum Mei, a former prisoner of Tuol Sleng, whose director, Duch, is to go on trial next year, and Sum Rithy, who lived through a Khmer Rouge prison in Siem Reap, said individual reparation should be available.
The internal rules of the Khmer Rouge tribunal do not allow for individual reparation, such as awarding cash to victims, but for “psychological” or common reparation.
“Compensation cannot be done for individuals,” Kong Srim, president of the tribunal’s Supreme Court, said Thursday.
However, lawyers for the tribunal said the internal rules are not clear enough in their definition of “psychological.”
They asked for recommendations for an amendment to the rules.
Not only survivors, but Cambodia’s younger generation too is seeking reparations for the nearly 2 million victims of the Khmer Rouge. Nobody yet knows what exactly that will mean.
“We need hospitals for victims,” Chhou Ny Sinan, project officer for justice and reconciliation of Youth for Peace, said Thursday, during a two-day seminar on reparations for victims. “We need support to build centers for the old, widows and children.”
Victims of the regime, non-governmental agencies and other participants discussed Wednesday and Thursday the needs of victims, as a Khmer Rouge tribunal moves forward.
Some victims said they needed common reparation, such as monuments, schools and hospitals. And they need real justice.
“We need a place that we can pray for the souls of the victims,” said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, whose parents were killed by the regime. Crying, she added: “1.7 million lives, who died, this is costly and we must have respect for them, and give them honors.”
Other survivors of the regime, such Chum Mei, a former prisoner of Tuol Sleng, whose director, Duch, is to go on trial next year, and Sum Rithy, who lived through a Khmer Rouge prison in Siem Reap, said individual reparation should be available.
The internal rules of the Khmer Rouge tribunal do not allow for individual reparation, such as awarding cash to victims, but for “psychological” or common reparation.
“Compensation cannot be done for individuals,” Kong Srim, president of the tribunal’s Supreme Court, said Thursday.
However, lawyers for the tribunal said the internal rules are not clear enough in their definition of “psychological.”
They asked for recommendations for an amendment to the rules.
3 comments:
Support centres are needed for youth, widows and old not just for the victims of Khmer Rouge regime but for all regime including the current one which is needed the most.
yes, they all need to compensate cambodian survivors with better life for them like modern hospitals, schools, reforms in the social services for the youngs, the olds, the handicappeds, etc..., so cambodia can heal itself from the world's most horrific scene during the KR era. please help khmer people to demand this kind of justice, compensation, reparations, etc... it was not fair that cambodian people had to go through that and suffered inhumanely. now, it's time to payback for the surviving victims and the whole of cambodia. may god bless cambodia forever.
yes, demand better qualify of life for all khmer people in cambodia! it's about we put suffering in cambodia behind us and move forward for better standard of living for all its khmer citizens. god bless cambodia.
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