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* [[Vietnam War]]
* [[Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum]]
* [[Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum]]
* [http://www.boent.eu/killingfields_en.html In the Land of Impotence, A trip to the Kiling Fields]
* [[Cambodian Civil War]]
* [[Cambodian Civil War]]
* [[The Killing Fields (film)|''The Killing Fields'' (film)]]
* [[The Killing Fields (film)|''The Killing Fields'' (film)]]

Revision as of 05:56, 11 September 2010

This article is about the sites in Cambodia. For the 1984 film, see The Killing Fields (film). For other uses, see Killing field (disambiguation).
A commemorative stupa filled with the skulls of the victims at Choeung Ek.
Choeung Ek Killing Field: The bones of young children who were killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Mass grave in Choeung Ek.

The Killing Fields were a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Vietnam War.

At least 200,000 people were executed by the Khmer Rouge[1]. Analysis of 309 mass grave sites by the DC-Cam Mapping Program and Yale University indicate at least 1,386,734 victims.[2][3] Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.4 to 2.2 million out of a population of around 7 million.[4] In 1979, communist Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime.

Cambodian journalist Dith Pran coined the term 'Killing Fields' during his escape from the regime.[5] A 1984 film, The Killing Fields, tells the story of Dith Pran, played by another Cambodian survivor Haing S. Ngor, and his journey to escape the death camps.

Accusations of genocide

The Khmer Rouge regime arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government or with foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. Ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Thai, ethnic Chinese (except for those already prominent among the Khmer Rouge themselves), ethnic Chams (Muslim Cambodians), Cambodian Christians (Most of whom were Roman Catholic, along with its Priesthood) and the Buddhist monkhood were the demographic targets of persecution. As a result, Pol Pot is sometimes described as "the Hitler of Cambodia" and "a genocidal tyrant."[6] Martin Shaw described the Cambodian genocide as "the purest genocide of the Cold War era."[7]

Cambodia's ethnic minorities constituted 15 percent of the population in pre-Khmer Rouge era. Of the 400,000 Vietnamese who lived in Cambodia before 1975, some 320,000 were expelled by the previous Lon Nol regime. When Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge came to power, there remained about 100,000 Vietnamese in the country. Almost all of them were repatriated by December 1975. Some argue that the Khmer Rouge had no intent to cause serious mental and physical harm to the Vietnamese during the sun repatriation process.[8]

The Chinese community (about 425,000 people in 1975) was reduced to 200,000 during the next four years.[9] In the Khmer Rouge's Standing Committee, four members were of Chinese ancestry, two Vietnamese, and two Khmers. Some observers argue that this mixed composition makes it difficult to argue that there was an intent to kill off minorities.[10]

Cambodia experienced serious hardships due to the effects of war and disrupted economic activity. According to Michael Vickery, 740,800 people in Cambodia in a population of about 7 million died due to disease, overwork, and political repression.[11] Other estimates suggest approximately 1.7 million and it is described by the Yale University Cambodian Genocide Program as, "one of the worst human tragedies of the last century."[12] Researcher Craig Etcheson of the Documentation Center of Cambodia suggests that the death toll was between 2 and 2.5 million, with a "most likely" figure of 2.2 million. After 5 years of researching some 20,000 grave sites, he concludes that, "these mass graves contain the remains of 1,112,829 victims of execution."[11]

Process

The judicial process of the Khmer Rouge regime, for minor or political crimes, began with a warning from the Angkar, the government of Cambodia under the regime. People receiving more than two warnings were sent for "re-education," which meant near-certain death. People were often encouraged to confess to Angkar their "pre-revolutionary lifestyles and crimes" (which usually included some kind of free-market activity; having had contact with a foreign source, such as a U.S. missionary, international relief or government agency; or contact with any foreigner or with the outside world at all), being told that Angkar would forgive them and "wipe the slate clean." This meant being taken away to a place such as Tuol Sleng or Choeung Ek for torture and/or execution.

The executed were buried in mass graves. In order to save ammunition, the executions were often carried out using poison, spades or sharpened bamboo sticks. In some cases the children and infants of adult victims were killed by having their heads bashed against the trunks of Chankiri trees. The rationale was "to stop them growing up and taking revenge for their parents' deaths."[13]

Some victims were required to dig their own graves; their weakness often meant that they were unable to dig very deep. The soldiers who carried out the executions were mostly young men or women from peasant families.

Prosecution for crimes against humanity

In 1997 the Cambodian Government asked for the United Nations' assistance in setting up a genocide tribunal. It took nine years to agree the shape and structure of the court — a hybrid of Cambodia and international laws — before in 2006 the judges were sworn in.[14][15][16] The investigating judges were presented with the names of five possible suspects by the prosecution on 18 July 2007.[14] On 19 September 2007 Nuon Chea, second in command of the Khmer Rouge and its most senior surviving member, was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. He will face Cambodian and foreign judges at the special genocide tribunal.[17] On July 26, 2010, Kang Kek Iew (aka Comrade Duch), director of the S-21 prison camp, was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 35 years. His sentence was reduced to 19 due to already having spent 11 years in prison.[18]

Today

The best known monument of the Killing Fields is Choeung Ek. Today, it is the site of a Buddhist memorial to the terror, and Tuol Sleng has a museum commemorating the genocide. The memorial park has been constructed around the mass graves of many thousands of victims in Choeung Ek. The utmost respect is given to the victims of the massacres through signs and tribute sections throughout the park. Many dozens of mass graves are visible above ground, several which have not been excavated as of yet. Commonly, bones and clothing surface after heavy rainfalls due to the extremely large number of bodies still buried in the area. It is not uncommon to run across the bones or teeth of the victims scattered on the surface as you tour the memorial park. If these are found, you are asked to notify a memorial park officer or guide.

A survivor of the genocide, Dara Duong, founded The Killing Fields Museum in Seattle, USA.

See also

References

  1. ^ Chandler, David. The Killing Fields. At The Digital Archive Of Cambodian Holocaust Survivors. [1]
  2. ^ Documentation Center of Cambodia
  3. ^ Yale Cambodian Genocide Program
  4. ^ Peace Pledge Union Information – Talking about genocides – Cambodia 1975 – the genocide.
  5. ^ "'Killing Fields' journalist dies". BBC News. 30 March 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  6. ^ William Branigin, Architect of Genocide Was Unrepentant to the End The Washington Post, April 17, 1998
  7. ^ Theory of the Global State: Globality as Unfinished Revolution by Martin Shaw, Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp 141, ISBN 978-0-521-59730-2
  8. ^ Phnom Penh Post, "Debating Genocide"
  9. ^ Totten, Samuel (2004). Century of genocide:. Routledge. p. 345. ISBN 0415944309. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ United Nations' General Assembly Resolution 260 (Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide) requires that a, “national, ethnical, racial or religious group” be specifically targeted to be considered Genocide. The Khmer Rouge did not meet this legal definition since all people, including the Khmer Rouge themselves, were equally targeted. Therefore the United Nations and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has, as of December 2009, only charged two individuals with "Genocide," for the targeting of the Vietnamese and ethnic Cham muslims.(See AP) Instead, most have been charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Convention, homicide, torture and religious persecution.(see)(see also)
  11. ^ a b Sharp, Bruce (2005-04-01). "Counting Hell: The Death Toll of the Khmer Rouge Regime in Cambodia". Retrieved 2006-07-05.
  12. ^ The CGP, 1994–2008 Cambodian Genocide Program, Yale University
  13. ^ Khmer Rouge torturer describes killing babies by 'smashing them into trees' Mail Online, June 9, 2009
  14. ^ a b Doyle, Kevin. Putting the Khmer Rouge on Trial, Time, July 26, 2007
  15. ^ MacKinnon, Ian Crisis talks to save Khmer Rouge trial, The Guardian, 7 March 2007
  16. ^ The Khmer Rouge Trial Task Forc, Royal Cambodian Government
  17. ^ Staff, Senior Khmer Rouge leader charged, BBC 19 September 2007
  18. ^ Sentence reduced for former Khmer Rouge prison chief. The Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2010

11°29′04″N 104°54′07″E / 11.48444°N 104.90194°E / 11.48444; 104.90194

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