Theary Seng's Press Conference with Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Development, Berlin, 19 August 2009

Press Conference of 10th Anniversary of Civil Peace Service, Berlin, 19 August 2009
Mrs. Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (2nd from left), Germany's Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, listens to Theary Seng's Press Conference
Mrs. Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul talking to Theary Seng
Theary Seng speaking with Dr. Jürgen Wilhelm, Director General of German Development Service

The following is a transcript of Ms. Theary Seng's Press Conference:

10th Year Anniversary of Civil Peace Service
PRESS CONFERENCE
St. Elizabeth Church, Berlin. 19 August 2009
Statement of Theary C. SENG, CPS local partner

Introduction

Good afternoon. I am deeply honored to be here this afternoon with Minister Heidemarie (1) and other peace-builders on the panel in the celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Civil Peace Service.

I come from a country when a boy steals a piece of bread, he is sent to jail; when a man kills 2 million of his countrymen, he is invited to Paris for a peace conference.

I come from a country where to be an orphan is to be common; where post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) pervades the population.

I come from Cambodia. Where as a child of 4 years old, the Khmer Rouge killed my father, then 3 years later my mother while we were in prison, along with 2 million other Cambodians.

We, Cambodians, yearn for peace. Peace that is more than just the absence of war. We want peace with the presence of justice. We want peace to subside the internal turmoil and purge the demons from within.

Thirty years on, there is now the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (or, formally known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia) to start us on this journey of ‘peace with justice’ in trying 5 former KR leaders for these heinous crimes against humanity.

KRT is both ‘court of law’ and ‘court of public opinion’

The KRT is both a court of law and a court of public opinion. As a court of law, the KRT is limited. But any court of law has limitations, even here in developed Germany. A court has a very narrow mandate to weigh available evidence to convict or to let go.

In Cambodia, evidence is 30 years old, compromised, lost; witnesses long dead or are fearful to come forward. Additionally, there are charges of corruption, political interference, lack of judicial independence, budgetary constraints, etc.

The Center for Social Development monitors the national courts as well as the KRT for fair trial rights.

However, because the KRT is limited in what it can do as a court of law, we see the values of the KRT in the court of public opinion, and thus use the KRT as a catalyst, as an illustration to jumpstart conversations—long overdue—on issues of history, accountability, responsibility (personal, collective), truth, reconciliation, trauma, healing, confession, forgiveness—all issues larger than the complex legal construct and legalese limited to the understanding of a few.

Civil Peace Service (DED)’s Partnership with Center for Social Development, now with Center for Justice & Reconciliation

How does the Civil Peace Service and Germany fit into all of this? Three years ago, I, as director of the Center for Social Development, approached Mr. Wolfgang Mollers, country representative of the German Development Service, to inquire whether we could work together in peace building in light of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal and discussed having a civil peace officer with expertise in psycho-therapy be based with us.

To our joy, Mr. Mollers said ‘Yes’ and since, the partnership with DED and the Civil Peace Service (through first, Matthias WITZEL and now Stefan KIESEL) has brought on unprecedented and deeply expansive achievements in the whole of Cambodian society:

• 20 public forums and national conferences on “Justice & Reconciliation” in all of Cambodia’s 24 provinces—town hall-like meetings with victims and perpetrators, with KRT judges and prosecutors, donors and other civil society leaders, students representing the younger generation. Many view these public forums as “informal truth and reconciliation commissions”. We want these invited provincial participants in the thousands to be ambassadors to their family and neighbors back in their villages.
• These public forums were preceded with many small group meetings in each province during ground preparation trips.
• 15 seminars on how to involve victims as “Civil Party” in the KRT criminal proceeding.
• 15 tour visits of provincial participants to Phnom Penh sites of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Choeung Ek Killing Fields and the KRT.
• Emotional Support Team – headed by the Civil Peace Service – accompanies and counsels the participants at each and every event.
• Emotional Support Team has created Understanding Trauma in Cambodia Handbook – lovingly and creatively put together. Now, the Royal University’s Department of Psychology is using this Handbook as THE textbook in its program. It is the first book of its kind !
• Now, we are working on a Child Soldier Handbook… we want to give serious meaning to our “reconciliation” work. Who were the KR but children recruited to take up arms and turn against their own family members and neighbors. Now these individuals are adults with children of their own, living with the weight of their dark past of blood and confusion. Stefan KIESEL has experiences working with child soldiers in Sierre Leone.
• We multiply our impact by broadcasting these public forums and seminars all over the country on our Voice of Justice Radio Program with millions of listeners to make it truly a national dialogue.
• The most special impact for me is the standardizing of trauma language and conversations in Cambodian society. What was taboo 3 years ago are now talked about with less shame and reluctance. Three years ago, my staff accused me of thinking every Cambodian “crazy” by broaching these topics of trauma. Now, they are counseling others using the Trauma Handbook and posters taken from this Trauma Handbook.

Words cannot adequately capture the importance of the work of the Civil Peace Service in a place like Cambodia… caring individuals with expertise in peace-building passing on their skills by weaving their lives intricately with those of the local partners. Without DED and Civil Peace Service, we would not have achieved the above mentioned happenings.

Having witnessed firsthand the immeasurable contribution of the Civil Peace Service in Cambodia, I hope this work will continue for at least another 10 years, and then another 10, and another 10… until peace with justice, peace in the heart has been achieved in our broken world of suffering.

Thank you, Germany, for your humanity and generosity of spirit and attention.
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About Theary C. SENG:

• Founder & Board President, Center for Justice & Reconciliation
• Fmr. Executive Director, Center for Social Development www.csdcambodia.org “Public Forum: Emotional Support” (where you can find Trauma Handbook).
• Executive Director, Parliamentary Center of Cambodia
• Author, Daughter of the Killing Fields (London, 2005) www.thearyseng.com

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(1) Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development. I am the only non-German on the panel, assisted by an excellent private interpreter Alison Clark sitting next to me. In 2001, the Minister had visited and was greatly moved by theTuol Sleng Genocide Museum. For a federal minister, she was greatly informed of tiny Cambodia and its affairs, genocidal history and the KRT. I gave her a copy of my memoir. After the press conference, she invited me to join a semi-confidential meeting with all the 8 heads of the state and non-state institutions of the Civil Peace Service, assisted again by the private interpreter. Marc Eberle, the German filmmaker who is doing a film on the Khmer Rouge Tribunal using my life to tell the larger story had his colleague from ARTE filmed the event. About 15-20 reporters covered the event.