32/ Cambodia Genocide Program Progress report
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Resent-Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1995 23:19:38 -0700 Date: Tue, 17 Oct
1995 23:19:25
September 15, 1995
Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Council of Southeast
Asia Studies, Yale Law School, Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for
International Human Rights , Yale University
Executive Summary
The Cambodian Genocide Program (CGP) has made rapid progress in=7F
assembling the documentation, legal expertise and historical evidence
necessary to prosecute the crimes of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime.
This is consistent with the CGP mandate to help implement "the
policy of the United States to support efforts to bring to justice
members of the Khmer Rouge for their crimes against humanity committed
in Cambodia between April 17, 1975 and=7F January 7, 1979."
[PL 103-236, Sec. 572]. Nearing the halfway mark of its two year
mandate, the program has the following major achievements to its
credit:
1. Identifying Legal Options for Redress
Until now, the international impetus has not existed to motivate
the Cambodians to organize an effective process to seek legal
remedies for the Pol Pot regime's crimes. The Royal Cambodian
Government is now considering several options for legal redress
of the genocide, based on the findings of an international conference
hosted by the Cambodian Genocide Program in cooperation with the
U.S. Department of State. This conference, chaired by CGP Director
Ben Kiernan, of Yale University, was held in Phnom Penh on 21
and 22 August 1995. It was addressed by two international legal
scholars commissioned by the Department of State to review the
legal possibilities for cases involving criminal violations of
international humanitarian law and international criminal human
rights law in Cambodia. Cambodia's two Co-Prime Ministers also
addressed the conference; both praised Yale University and its
CGP. The conference was attended by nearly 100 others, including
six Members of the National Assembly, senior officials from the
Council of Ministers and various ministries such as Justice and
Interior, and legal officers.
2. Documenting the Cambodian Genocide
Until now, no detailed picture has existed of specific atrocities,
victims and perpetrators of the Cambodian genocide. The Cambodian
Genocide Program has made major strides in assembling the documentation
necessary to prosecute the authors of the Cambodian genocide.
A series of databases, now in formation, will be made accessible
through the Internet by 1997: a) computerized maps of Khmer Rouge
prisons and victim grave sites across Cambodia; b) a biographic
database on the Cambodian elite, many of whom comprised victims
of the Khmer Rouge; c) a second biographic database on the Khmer
Rouge political and military leadership, including many alleged
perpetrators of criminal acts; d) an electronic database of photographs,
including rare images taken during Pol Pot's 1975-79 Democratic
Kampuchea (DK) regime and 4,000 photographs taken by the Khmer
Rouge of their victims before execution; e) an imaging database
of thousands of rare documents from the Pol Pot period, many of
which are being made publicly available for the first time; and
f) a bibliographic database of literature and documents in various
languages on the Pol Pot regime. Yale's CGP is uniquely qualified
to carry out this work because of Yale's singular combination
of Cambodia area and archive studies, genocide research, legal
resources, information systems, and geographical expertise necessary
to effectively execute this complex research undertaking.
3. Recreating Lost Histories
Until now, no detailed history of events in each region and zone
of the Khmer Rouge regime had been contemplated. The Cambodian
Genocide Program has nine new histories already underway, comprising
detailed and original research on the fates of various regions
and population groups into which Pol Pot's regime divided Cambodia.
In the process, Cambodian scholars are being trained in both social
science methods and computer documentation. In addition to these
nine separate studies in preparation, others are in the planning
stage. The first volume of these studies is to be published in
1997.
4. Training Cambodian Lawyers
Until now, the legal expertise did not exist in Cambodia to support
a trial of Khmer Rouge leaders utilizing due process guarantees
and unimpeachable evidentiary standards. The Cambodian Genocide
Program has just graduated the first class of seventeen Cambodian
legal professionals, government officials, and human rights workers
from CGP's nine-week intensive summer school on international
criminal law and international human rights law. The school was
held in Phnom Penh from June to August 1995, with the participation
of the Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for International Human Rights
at the Yale Law School. A second summer school will be held in
Cambodia in mid-1996. The individuals trained in the CGP program
will be able to staff a domestic or international tribunal.
5. Creating a Permanent Cambodian Documentation Center
Until now, no "center of gravity" existed in Cambodia
to provide a spark for the serious study of what happened to Cambodian
society during the Khmer Rouge regime. The Cambodian Genocide
Program has established an international non-governmental organization
in Phnom Penh, known as the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
The Documentation Center is facilitating the field operations
of the CGP, training Cambodians in research and investigative
techniques, and will enable an indigenous organization to continue
the work of the program after the conclusion of the CGP mandate
in January 1997.
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[Insert "CGP Organization Chart" Graphic]
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[Insert "Khmer Rouge Family Portrait" Photo]
Photo courtesy of Mark Dodd
[Compiler's note: This photograph does not belong to Mark
Dodd nor to anyone in particular. It was retrieved by government
troops when they launched their ill-fated offensive on Ta Mok's
headquarters in late 1993.]
This 1986 picture, probably taken in Trat, Thailand, is believed
to be the most recent known photograph of Pol Pot. (left to right:)
Son Sen, Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Pol Pot, Yun Yat, unidentified
woman, unidentified woman, Mrs. Pech Chheang; the female child
is believed to be Pol Pot's daughter, the male child the son of
Pech Chheang, deputy chief of staff of the khmer rouge army. The
first five are members of the Standing Committee of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, and are among CGP's
prime suspects.
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Introduction
In Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, the world witnessed one of the
worst cases of genocide and crimes against humanity ever perpetrated.
While those responsible for the Nazi Holocaust in the first half
of the 20th century were punished, and those responsible for genocide
and crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
are being brought to justice, there has been little effort to
bring the Khmer Rouge to justice for the atrocities they committed.
In 1994, the U.S. Congress sought to address this problem by enacting
the Cambodian Genocide Justice Act. A team of world-class Cambodia
scholars based at Yale was chosen to receive funding from the
U.S. Department of State, and subsequently, by the Australian
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. That team has now, in
three quarters of a year, made tremendous progress in remedying
this omission of justice and accountability. Four major problems
face any effort to bring the Khmer Rouge to justice:
1) a paucity of specific documentary evidence linking high-level
policymakers and military personnel to acts of genocide and crimes
against humanity;
2) insufficient training of Cambodian officials and lawyers with
the political will and legal skills to bring the Khmer Rouge to
justice;
3) insufficient awareness among Cambodian policymakers of the
options available for legal redress of genocide and crimes against
humanity; and
4) the lack of a permanent, indigenous Cambodian NGO tasked to
carry out independent research and documentation on the Cambodian
genocide.
Yale University's Cambodian Genocide Program is making excellent
progress toward solution of these four problems. That progress
is described in this First Interim Progress Report of the Cambodian
Genocide Program.
Identifying Legal Options for Redress
Until now, no conference of Cambodian and international observers
has examined specific legal options for redress of Cambodia's
genocide. On August 21 and 22, 1995, the Cambodian Genocide Program
hosted an international conference under the banner, "Striving
for Justice: International Criminal Law in the Cambodian Context."
The Striving for Justice Conference brought together a wide range
of interested observers and decisionmakers for discussions with
two international criminal law experts. Under a contract with
the U.S. Department of State, Mr. Jason Abrams of the Open Society
Institute and Professor Steven Ratner of the University of Texas
are now completing a study of options for legal redress of criminal
human rights violations during the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) regime
between April 17, 1975 and January 7, 1979. When it is completed,
the study will offer an analysis of the most probable cases of
violations of criminal human rights laws under the DK regime,
and the most likely avenues for redress. Abrams and Ratner have
tentatively concluded that the Khmer Rouge are culpable on several
counts of violating international criminal laws concerning genocide,
war crimes, and crimes against humanity. They further have concluded
that there are several possible avenues for legal redress of these
criminal violations, including an ad hoc international tribunal,
a domestic Cambodian tribunal, and/or some form of an international
commission of inquiry.
At the Striving for Justice Conference, Abrams and Ratner presented
their draft conclusions to an invitation-only audience of nearly
100 distinguished guests. The audience consisted of representatives
from the Offices of the Co-Prime Ministers, the Deputy Prime Minister,
the Council of Ministers, several key ministries including Interior
and Justice, numerous Cambodian and international human rights
organizations, members of the Cambodian National Assembly, a representative
of the United Nations Secretary General, a member of the US Congress,
and others. The conference was also addressed by the First Prime
Minister, His Royal Highness Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh,
and the Second Prime Minister, His Excellency Samdech Hun Sen.
The conference offered extensive opportunities for discussion
and exchange of ideas among the participants. Conference participants
reached a clear consensus on the need for accountability, and
outlined important specific next steps to be taken to bring the
Khmer Rouge leadership to justice.
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[Insert "Conference Podium Shot" Photo]
Photo courtesy of Cambodia Today
CGP's Striving for Justice Conference was the first opportunity
ever for Cambodian officials to debate the best methods for achieving
legal redress of genocide and crimes against humanity.
At the Conference, the Royal Cambodian Government declared its
intention to prosecute the Khmer Rouge. (left to right:) international
criminal law experts Mr. Jason Abrams and Professor
Steven Ratner, First Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh, and CGP
Director Ben Kiernan.
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Documentation Databases
The Cambodian Genocide Program is assembling an elaborate family
of databases collectively known as the Cambodian Genocide Data
Base (CGDB). Using the Computerized Documentation System (CDS/ISIS)
designed by UNESCO and modified to suit CGP's particular needs
by our programmers, CGP is making rapid progress in the compilation
of all known primary and secondary material relating to the Khmer
Rouge regime. The Program has already obtained access to several
little-known caches of documents, including a DK Foreign Ministry
archive, archives of the DK Trade Ministry, the only known surviving
archive from a DK regional prison, original maps of Khmer Rouge
killing fields, and several collections of rare photographs taken
by the DK regime itself.
Another collection made available to the CGP includes a set of
internal minutes of key meetings of the DK "Party Center"
held in 1975 and 1976. CGP currently has two missions at work
in Vietnam, in Hanoi and in Ho Chi Minh City, searching for relevant
documentation in state and private archives.
These databases will bridge a huge gap in the case against the
Khmer Rouge. Because these databases did not previously exist,
policymakers could not precisely identify victims and perpetrators,
nor could they establish empirical links between the two on a
national scale. Yale's CGDB resolves this problem. When the databases
are complete, an investigator using them could, for example, identify
individual victims and perpetrators of a particular atrocity,
perhaps with photographs and biographies of the individuals in
question. Yale's CGP is uniquely qualified to carry out this work
because of Yale's singular combination of Cambodia area and archival
studies, genocide research, legal resources, information systems,
and geographical expertise necessary to effectively execute this
complex research undertaking.
The Bibliographic Database
The bibliographic database will contain records on this new material
and on all other known primary and secondary sources of information
pertaining to the Khmer Rouge regime, including books, articles,
monographs, documents, reports, interviews, tapes, films and videos,
transcripts, and so forth. As noted, CGP research efforts have
already led to a dramatic increase in existing documentary evidence
through discovery of previously unknown archival sources. Rapid
progress has been made with the design and establishment of this
database. The initial program timelines projected the creation
of some three hundred records in a bibliographic database by the
end of December 1995. That milestone was achieved in February
1995. As of August 1995, approximately 1000 records representing
some 50,000 pages of documentation had been entered into the bibliographical
database.
The Victim Database
The Cambodian Genocide Program has made arrangements to obtain
and make electronically accessible to an international audience
Dr. Justin Corfield's biographical database containing more than
40,000 entries on the Cambodian elite. We express our thanks to
Dr. Corfield. We have plans to expand this database with additional
information obtained as a result of our original research. Given
the patterns of violence in Democratic Kampuchea, it is likely
that a large number of the individuals listed in this database
became victims of the Khmer Rouge. Thus this database may become
useful for identifying and cross-referencing victims of genocide
and crimes against humanity.
The Photographic Database
The Cambodian Genocide Program is preparing to scan several large
collections of photographs into the CGDB. These collections contain
a significant number of items which are likely to have a high
degree of evidentiary value for the prosecution. Examples include
a large number of photos of DK leaders, of forced labor brigades,
and the entire collection of prisoner photographs from the Tuol
Sleng Genocide Museum. Most of the 4,000 prisoner mugshots are
currently not accompanied by any identification of the prisoners.
By making these photographs available on the internet, and adding
to the database a special field for readers to key in suggested
names for each photograph, we hope to obtain identities for many
of the victims of the Khmer Rouge. The names could be used to
prosecute perpetrators on charges of killing specific persons.
The Khmer Rouge Biographical Database
The Cambodian Genocide Program is assembling a second biographical
database containing data on members of the Khmer Rouge organization
between 1975 and 1979. This database will include both political
and military leadership, down to the srok (district) level. Thus
this database will be useful for identifying the chain of command
in various regions at various times, and in establishing command
responsibility for particular atrocities.
The Imaging Database
The Cambodian Genocide Program is in the process of scanning images
of original DK documents into the database. We have already accomplished
the scanning of several hundred relevant documents, including
a near-complete set of the records in Khmer from the 1979 in absentia
genocide tribunal of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary. Using custom software
already designed specifically for CGP, CGDB users will be able
to browse through the bibliographic database and, upon finding
a record of particular interest, "jump" to a full digital
image of that specific document with the "click" of
a mouse. This capability can considerably expedite the search
for incriminating evidence of genocidal intent.
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[Insert "Craig Amid the Skulls" Photo]
Photo courtesy of Michael Hayes
CGP Program Manager Dr. Craig Etcheson examines a collection of
human remains at Sala Damnak in Kandal Province. This site has
been logged as a point of interest in CGP's mapping project,
which with
funding from the Australian government will precisely map known
Khmer Rouge prison and "killing field" locations in
Cambodia.
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The Geographic Database
The Cambodian Genocide Program is also in the process of constructing
an elaborate computer-based map showing the physical locations
of facilities of the Khmer Rouge "internal security"
apparatus, including prison and "killing field" sites.
The Cambodian Mine Action Center established by the United Nations
Transitional Authority in Cambodia has designed standardized software
for mapping work in Cambodia, and CGP has obtained access to this
system for our purposes. Utilizing the Global Positioning System
to pinpoint the precise coordinates of locations identified by
our researchers, CGP will accurately map the Khmer Rouge terror
system and the resting places of its victims. The resulting display
is likely to constitute an incriminating indictment of the scope
of Khmer Rouge terror, providing strong evidence of widespread
crimes against humanity.
Disseminating the Databases
In addition to publishing analytical indexes of the databases,
user access to the computer databases themselves will be enabled
in several ways. First, physical copies of the database will be
deposited at several locations in the United States and Cambodia.
Second, we hope to make the entire database available on CD-ROM.
Finally, through the Internet, the database will be made accessible
to all interested parties worldwide. The projected implementation
date for the online genocide database is early 1997.
Collecting and compiling data on Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge
will be one of the most significant contributions of the CGP,
for both historical and legal reasons. Organizing this mass of
new information into a structured whole will enable citizens to
fully comprehend the nightmare of what happened in Cambodia under
the Khmer Rouge. It will allow historians to compile a more compelling
and accurate picture of the past. It will allow policymakers to
fashion a case for the necessity of accountability for the Cambodian
genocide. And it will provide prosecutors with critical information
on crimes committed by specific individuals.
Research
Cambodian Genocide Program Director Ben Kiernan's new book, The
Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power and Genocide in Cambodia under the
Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979, will soon be available from Yale University
Press. A comprehensive survey of the Cambodian genocide, it provides
a baseline of existing information from which more specific research
can be initiated. The CGP has already begun implementing a wide
range of new social science research on the Cambodian genocide.
For instance, six professional Cambodian researchers and an American
have been at work for several months on new histories of the seven
geographic zones and regions of the Democratic Kampuchea (DK)
regime: the Southwest Zone, the Western Zone, the Northwest Zone,
the Siemreap-Oddar Meanchey Region, the Northern Zone, the Northeast
Zone (including Kratie) and the Eastern Zone. One of these 70-page
monographs is already well on the way to completion, and the others
are expected to be completed in 1996, for publication in 1997.
The Cambodian Genocide Program has also commissioned several additional
studies, including one of the DK "Party Center" (whose
members included Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, Khieu
Samphan, Ieng Thirith, Yun Yat, Mok, Ke Pauk and Vorn Vet). This
monograph will examine the Khmer Rouge chain of command and the
degree of central authority over events in the zones and regions.
This study will commence in September 1995, and is expected to
be completed in 1996. The CGP has commissioned a further study
of the genocide against the Cham Muslim minority under the Pol
Pot regime, and work on this monograph will also commence in September
1995. In addition, the CGP plans new monographs on the Buddhist
monkhood, on women, and on the Vietnamese, Chinese and tribal
minorities, focussing on the fate of these population cohorts
under the Pol Pot regime. We expect at least one and possibly
two collected volumes of these monographs to be published in 1997
and 1998.
These studies will be of crucial importance in synthesizing the
general and the particular in Cambodia's genocide. Few detailed
studies exist of particular regions under the Khmer Rouge, and
so up to now it has been impossible to assemble a complete picture
of what happened on a national scale. By breaking down the research
task into particular regions, and simultaneously selecting several
integrating themes such as the Party Center, Cham Muslims, Buddhists
and women, the CGP studies=7F will reconstruct the nexus between
the local situation and national policy. This will provide crucial
analytical evidence of the extent of national control by the Khmer
Rouge, and the impact of this control on all the people of Cambodia.
Legal Training Project
On August 18, 1995, the Cambodian Genocide Program produced its
first graduates in international criminal law and international
human rights law. Seventeen Cambodian legal professionals successfully
completed the nine-week training program, including officials
from the Ministries of Justice and Interior, the Council of Ministers,
and three Cambodian non-governmental human rights organizations.
The training covered principles of international criminal law
pertaining to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes;
the structure of national and international legal enforcement
mechanisms, including national courts, ad hoc international tribunals,
the International Court of Justice, and truth commissions; and
the requirements of due process and evidentiary standards.
The Cambodian Genocide Program will build on this foundation next
year to further enhance the capacity of the Cambodian legal system
to cope with the anticipated political decision to move forward
with legal redress for crimes committed during the Pol Pot regime.
After consulting with the Royal Cambodian Government and other
interested observers as to the preferred fora for seeking redress,
the CGP will fashion a second training project designed to inculcate
the skills necessary to implement those means of redress selected
by the appropriate political authorities.
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[Insert "Legal Training Graduation" Photo]
Photo courtesy of Martin Feldman
Joined by their trainers and translators, graduates of CGP's 1995
Legal Training Project display their certificates of completion.
Many of these lawyers, judges, police officers and human rights
workers will form the nucleus of prosecution and defense teams
when a criminal tribunal is convened.
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Several additional varieties of training under CGP auspices are
in progress. Training of Khmer researchers in Cambodia on social
science methods, historiography and database management has been
proceeding since June 1995 on a weekly basis. Two Cambodian scholars
are currently enrolled for MA's at Yale, in History and International
Relations. Training of Khmer staff and researchers in Cambodia
on all aspects of operating the Documentation Center of Cambodia
is also occurring on a weekly basis.
Until now, no one in Cambodia had the range of legal skills required
to bring the Khmer Rouge to justice in fair and procedurally sound
trials. The CGP's training programs have directly addressed this
shortcoming. This is consistent with the Cambodian Genocide Justice
Act, which states that it is "the policy of the United States
to support efforts to bring to justice members of the Khmer Rouge
for their crimes against humanity committed in Cambodia between
April 17, 1975 and January 7, 1979." [PL 103-236, Sec. 572].
The Documentation Center of Cambodia
The Documentation Center of Cambodia ("DC-Cam") is a
non-profit international non-governmental organization (NGO) established
in January 1995 by the CGP to facilitate training and field research
in Cambodia related to the CGP's mission. With offices in Phnom
Penh, the DC-Cam serves as a base of operations for the documentation,
research and training activities carried out under the auspices
of the CGP. The staff of DC-Cam is entirely Cambodian in composition,
and weekly staff development training is already in progress to
prepare indigenous personnel to assume full responsibility for
all aspects of operations in 1997.
In January 1997, at the conclusion of the CGP's mandate, DC-Cam
will be transformed into a Cambodian NGO to serve as a permanent
institute for the study of topics related to the Khmer Rouge regime,
and as a resource for Cambodians and others who may wish to pursue
legal redress for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity
perpetrated under that regime. The documentation and research
products of the CGP will be deposited with the Documentation Center
of Cambodia for access by the Cambodian people.
[For those who have access to the internet, DC-Cam has a World
Wide Web HomePage containing more information about that organization,
located at http://www.pactok.net.au. The Documentation Center
email address is dccam@pactok.peg.apc.org.]
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[Insert "Siem Reap Killing Field Map"]
Drawing courtesy of Cambodian Royal Government Ministry of the
Interior
The hundreds of mass graves strewn across Cambodia by the Khmer
Rouge have never before been systematically catalogued, so their
precise number and locations are not yet known. Using the Global
Positioning System and specialized mapping software developed
by
the United Nations, CGP will gather data on mass graves and prison
sites from villagers, government officials and other sources to
create a comprehensive map. The map above, of mass graves and
execution sites in Siem Reap Province, was made by
Cambodian officials 15 years ago.
Research Collaboration
The Cambodian Genocide Program has won strong support from the
worldwide Cambodia studies community (see "Scholars Speak
out on Cambodia Holocaust," letter to the Wall Street Journal,
signed by 29 Cambodia scholars and specialists, 13 July 1995).
These scholars represent virtually the entire field of Cambodian
studies. Leading Cambodian scholars David P. Chandler, Milton
E. Osborne, and Michael Vickery have already provided help in
various ways. Others who have responded positively to requests
for information on their personal archival holdings include Justin
Corfield, Mark Dodd, Stephen Heder, Henri Locard, and Judy Ledgerwood.
Additional Cambodia scholars like David Ashley and Jason Roberts
have generously offered to work with the CGP on a volunteer basis.
An Australian professional working with the CGP has also initiated
a project to begin the computer mapping of Khmer Rouge prison
and mass grave sites. This project has now been funded by the
Australian government at the level of A$24,300. Additional funding
is being sought. This is the first time anyone has attempted to
construct a comprehensive inventory of the terror apparatus used
by the Khmer Rouge regime to murder up to two million people.
In June, July, and August 1995, CGP Director Ben Kiernan presented
the Program's work-in-progress at the U.S. Forum on Vietnam, Cambodia
and Laos (in New York), at Monash University and the University
of New South Wales (in Australia), and at the Foreign Correspondents'
Club in Phnom Penh. These occasions all produced new collaboration
from foreign scholars and specialists, ranging from an offer of
a large biographic database to a promise of rare photographs of
the Pol Pot leadership. The ability of the CGP to attract the
cooperation of Cambodia scholars, along with legal and technical
experts worldwide, is a key factor in explaining the success of
the Program to date.
Cambodian Reception of the CGP
Cambodian leaders have complained for years that the outside world
had not recognized the crimes of the Khmer Rouge and the tragedy
of the Cambodian people. The initiation of the Cambodian Genocide
Program helped answer this complaint on an international scale.
This measure of recognition sparked a new willingness among the
Cambodian political elite to squarely face the darkest chapter
of Cambodian history. Cambodians have become full partners in
the CGP's work. His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk wrote to CGP
Manager Dr. Craig Etcheson on 21 July 1995, "I infinitely
thank the distinguished promoters of this research program, especially
Dr. Ben Kiernan and yourself, for the care that you have manifested,
thanks to the 'Cambodian Genocide Program,' in nourishing truth
and promoting and assuring respect for human rights in my country."
Since the earliest days of the CGP in January 1995, the Royal
Cambodian Government has been unreservedly supportive of the mandate
given to Yale University by the U.S. government. The Co-Prime
Ministers, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Co-Ministers of Interior,
the Minister of Justice, the Co-Ministers of Defense, and the
President of the National Assembly have all pledged their personal
and institutional cooperation with the CGP. Enthusiasm about the
goals of the program transcends political affiliation, with support
coming from the leadership of all three parties represented in
the government. But the cooperation of the Royal Government has
gone far beyond pledges. The Royal Government is providing the
CGP with a wide range of resources to facilitate our work in Cambodia
and in the region at large.
At the Striving for Justice Conference in Phnom Penh on August
21 and 22, 1995, First Prime Minister Samdech Krom Preah Norodom
Ranariddh and Second Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen publicly committed
the Royal Cambodian Government to bring the Khmer Rouge leadership
to justice for their crimes against humanity. In his opening address
to the conference, the First Prime Minister complimented the CGP,
saying, "On behalf of the Royal Government, on behalf of
Samdech Hun Sen, Second Prime Minister, and on my own behalf,
I would like to express my deepest appreciation and warmest congratulations
to the Office of Cambodian Genocide Investigation and Yale University
for embarking on the two years programme of documentation, research
and training on the Cambodian genocide. I would also like to express
my sincere thanks equally to the United States to create the Cambodian
Genocide Justice Act and its appointment of Yale University to
carry out the two year programme."
Substantively, the First Prime Minister argued, "The international
crimes of the Khmer Rouge violated the most central norms of international
law and this clearly affected the interests of all states in general
and Cambodia in particular." His Royal Highness the First
Prime Minister added, "The Royal Government is determined
to bring those responsible for the perpetration of these heinous
crimes against the Cambodian people to face justice." In
his closing address to the conference, His Excellency Samdech
Hun Sen summed up the view of many participants by saying of the
conference, "This is not about politics, it is about justice.
If we do not bring the Khmer Rouge to justice for killing millions
of people, then there is no point in speaking about human rights
in Cambodia."
Large numbers of ordinary Cambodian citizens seem to concur with
the Co-Prime Ministers. Many Cambodians in Cambodia, the U.S.,
and other countries have volunteered their assistance. Since June
1995, a team of Cambodian volunteers in New Haven, CT, has been
preparing a biographical index of Khmer Rouge political leaders
and military commanders. As of September 1995, Cambodian-American
citizens' groups in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Minnesota,
Oregon, California, and Texas have offered to compile witness
testimony on behalf of the CGP. The thirst for justice is powerful
among the survivors of Pol Pot's genocide.
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[Insert "Child in the Killing Field" Photo]
Photo courtesy of Craig Etcheson
The CGP is collecting evidence of victim impacts. One example
is
this photograph of a child contemplating the future while standing
alone among more than fifty mass graves on the shores of Tonle
Bati. Tonle Bati lies within the original zone of control
of Chhit Choeun (alias Mok, alias "The Butcher"), currently
thought to be number three in the Khmer Rouge leadership, and
leader of the KR army.
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Consistent with these feelings of ordinary Cambodians and the
policy of the government, the CGP has received from the Royal
Cambodian Government significant assistance to our research program.
One of the most useful forms of this aid is the unprecedented
assistance from the Royal Government in retrieving documentation
from Vietnam unavailable to researchers up until now. In combination
with previously unexamined archives from the Cambodian People's
Party, Royal Government ministries, and private archives now being
opened to the CGP in Cambodia, a wealth of new data pertaining
to criminal culpability during the Khmer Rouge regime seems destined
to come to light. It is the expressed policy of the Royal Government
to assist the CGP in uncovering such important information.
Evaluation
To ensure objectivity and quality control, the CGP has instituted
a rigorous two-tier system of program evaluation. In the first
tier, the Steering Group of the Department of State's Office of
Cambodian Genocide Investigations conducts periodic external reviews
of CGP operations. As a basis for these evaluations, in May 1995
CGP Manager Dr. Craig Etcheson produced a 209-page Implementation
Plan outlining the Program's strategy for achieving its objectives.
The first external evaluation, held in June 1995, termed the progress
of CGP operations "excellent" (Time Magazine, June 26,
1995).
CGP also carries out an internal review process, staffed by distinguished
experts in international law and genocide investigation, such
as Professor Cherif Bassiouni, former Chair of the United Nations
Commission of Experts for the inquiry on violations of international
humanitarian law in the Former Yugoslavia (predecessor to the
Yugoslavia War Crimes Tribunal). The first round of internal evaluation
of CGP operations began in June 1995. This evaluation has already
produced numerous useful ideas for improving various aspects of
our operations, and yielded an overall positive appraisal of CGP
progress. According to one evaluator, "Your thoughtful and
methodical explanations for the preparation of such a project
should serve as a model for the documentation and analysis of
crimes against humanity in other countries... The training program
designed to support the project is outstanding."
Summary
In 1994 the prospect of a trial of the Khmer Rouge leaders seemed
remote. Now, through the work of the Cambodian Genocide Program,
it has become a strong probability. In 1994, the information resources
and legal evidence necessary for a judicial accounting of the
genocide had yet to be identified or assembled, and the required
legal skills did not yet exist. These prerequisites are now well
on the way toward fulfillment. By the end of 1996, when the CGP's
mandate will expire, an international Cambodian genocide tribunal
may have already commenced functioning. By then, the CGP will
certainly have provided the scholarly and legal resources for
Cambodians to pursue their own justice for the victims of the
Khmer Rouge regime. In short, the Cambodian Genocide Program has
taken major steps to fulfill its own three-part mandate: to expose
the crimes of the Khmer Rouge, to document those crimes, and to
hold the perpetrators accountable.
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[Insert "Kang Kech Iev" Graphic]
Photos courtesy of Tuol Sleng Museum; Document courtesy of Ben
Kiernan
The CGP team is assembling highly probative evidence of individual
criminal responsiblity on the part of Khmer Rouge leaders. For
example, this (Upper Left) is a photo of Cambodia's "Himmler,"
a man named Kang Kech Iev, alias Deuch, Director of the notorious
Khmer Rouge extermination center at Tuol Sleng; (Center:) An order
personally signed by Deuch, listing 17 people, including children
as young as 9 years old, with his handwritten instruction, "Kill
Them All"; (Lower Right:) One of the victims of the Tuol
Sleng extermination center.
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===================== Craig Etcheson, Cambodian Genocide Program,
Yale University email: etcheson@minerva.cis.yale.edu; tel: 203-432-9346;
fax: 203-432-9381 snail: P.O. Box 208206, New Haven, CT 06520-8206,
USA =====================
END