Cambodia
With a long history of political instability, from the collapse of the Khmer Empire in the 13th century to a 13 year civil war after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia has been able to keep violence minimal in recent years, but still struggles economically.
With a population of approximately 15 million, present-day Cambodia struggles to overcome a history of political instability. Most Cambodians trace their roots to the Khmer Empire, which ruled a significant part of Southeast Asia until the 13th century. Invaders, whose descendants now constitute majority populations in Thailand and Vietnam, staged a seven-month siege on Angkor, the capital of the empire, leading to a period often referred to by historians as the "dark ages."
When French explorers arrived in Cambodia in the early 1860s to expand their commercial interests, Cambodians welcomed protection from continued civil wars and rebellions. However, protection soon turned into extensive political and economic control, and Cambodia declared its independence in 1953, creating a constitutional monarchy.
The Cambodian communist movement emerged from the country's struggle against French colonization. Instability surfaced as the region found itself in a clash between communist China and the Cold War containment policies of the United States. In 1975, after a five-year insurgency, Pol Pot and communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Cambodia's capital city of Phnom Penh and, in celebration of ethnic nationalism, named their new state Democratic Kampuchea. A Vietnamese invasion that lasted from 1978 to 1979 eventually drove out the Khmer Rouge, but not before almost 2 million Cambodians had died in what came to be known as Cambodia's "killing fields."
Rather than stabilizing the country, the ongoing Vietnamese occupation sparked a 13-year civil war. Many Cambodians fled and escaped to refugee camps in neighboring Thailand. More than 100,000 refugees later resettled in the United States, where over 250,000 people of Cambodian descent live today.
The 1991 Paris Peace Agreement officially ended the war, though skirmishes continued. Two years later, the United Nations aided Cambodia in conducting national elections that established a multiparty democracy led by King Sihanouk and Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge military commander. In 1999, after continued factional fighting and more disputed elections, the last of the Khmer Rouge were captured and the movement collapsed. In 2004, King Sihanouk abdicated and his son Prince Norodom Sihamoni succeeded him. Subsequent years have seen minimal violence during elections and some degree of stability, though the nation still struggles economically and is heavily dependent on foreign aid.
Photo Caption: Suon with his family
Credit: Courtesy of Enemies of the People
Sources:
» BBC News. "Cambodia Country Profile"
» Cambodia Tribunal Monitor. "Historical Overview of the Khmer Rouge."
» CIA World Factbook. "Cambodia."
» Frontline. "Cambodia -- Pol Pot's Shadow."
» Independent Lens. "War and Cambodia."
» Keller, Lucy. "UNTAC in Cambodia -- from Occupation, Civil War and Genocide to Peace." Inquiry 9 (2005): 127-178.
» Kierman, Ben. The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008
The United States' bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War helped Pol Pot recruit soldiers for the Khmer Rouge guerrilla movement, resulting in the Khmer Rouge taking Phnom Penh in 1975. After establishing their regime, the Khmer Rouge forced Cambodia into an agrarian revolution, turning the country on its head. Although the exact number of those who perished during the reign of the Khmer Rouge is not known, estimates range from nearly a fifth to a fourth of the entire country's population (approximately 8 million).
In the aftermath of World War II, many former European colonies declared independence, seeking to express more authentic national identities than was possible under colonial rule. Disputes quickly arose between those who believed their future would be best served by aligning with the West and communists, who rejected any ties to the West.
Pol Pot (Saloth Sar) came of age in the 1950s, as his country, along with many others, struggled to define itself. He studied in Paris, where he came to believe that a strongly nationalistic approach to communism offered Cambodia its best chance at a classless society. When he returned to Cambodia, he secretly joined the communist movement, which until then had been heavily influenced by Ho Chi Minh's Communist party in neighboring Vietnam. Pol Pot and the man who would become his chief ideologist, Nuon Chea, commonly known as "Brother Number Two," were determined to steer their own communist revolution in Cambodia. King Sihanouk referred to them and their comrades as "Red Khmer," or, in French, "Khmer Rouge." This became the name by which the Cambodian Communists, led by Pol Pot, were known.
As Pol Pot rose to power, the United States became mired in the conflict in neighboring Vietnam, picking up where the French left off trying to destroy Ho Chi Minh's Communist forces. The war began to spill over into neutral Cambodia, where Ho Chi Minh's Vietcong army had set up bases. The United States launched secret bombing campaigns on these bases beginning in 1969; 540,000 tons of bombs were dropped, killing somewhere from 150,000 to 500,000 people.
Many people attribute the ascendancy of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (and, ultimately, the Cambodian genocide) to the civilian casualties and devastation that resulted from the U.S. bombing campaigns. Former New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg said the Khmer Rouge "...would point... at the bombs falling from B-52s as something they had to oppose if they were going to have freedom. And it became a recruiting tool until they grew to a fierce, indefatigable guerilla army." Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger saw things differently. In his memoir he argued, "It was Hanoi -- animated by an insatiable drive to dominate Indochina -- that organized the Khmer Rouge long before any American bombs fell on Cambodian soil."
During this time, the United States also backed the overthrow of Cambodia's ruler, King Sihanouk, by his own prime minister, General Lon Nol. The Khmer Rouge waged guerrilla warfare against Lon Nol, and the 1970 U.S. invasion and bombing campaign against Cambodia only served to increase sympathy for the Khmer Rouge. The civil war ended in April 1975, when Khmer Rouge forces took control of Phnom Penh.
When Pol Pot and his party came to power, they embraced an ideology that was defined by an amalgamation of communism and a fiercely nationalistic distrust of Vietnam. The regime wanted all remnants of the "old society" erased and aimed to create a pure, agrarian utopia in which there would be no private ownership or anything foreign or modern. The Khmer Rouge called its first year in power "year zero"; they wanted to return to a peasant economy with no educational hierarchies or class divisions. Everyone would be equal and everyone would be tied to the land.
To achieve this, city inhabitants were forcibly moved to the countryside and used as labor on collective farms. The regime considered urban classes "traitors" and "capitalists" who supported free-market activities; ethnic and religious minorities were also targeted. This agrarian reform, which Pol Pot claimed would raise the standard of living for all, led to a famine and starvation of thousands. Although the exact number of those who perished during the reign of the Khmer Rouge is not known, estimates range from nearly a fifth to a fourth of the entire country's population (aprox. 8 million) at the time.
In the first admission of its kind for a Khmer Rouge leader, Nuon Chea admits in Enemies of the People that he and Pol Pot ordered a purge of the party to rid it of a "Vietnamese faction," people they believed were conspiring with their erstwhile allies to re-establish Vietnam's historical dominance of Cambodia. Nuon Chea clings to the notion that killings were targeted and justified by the external threat posed by the more powerful Vietnamese. He and Pol Pot believed the killings were justified, he says, because of their belief that the "Vietnamese conspiracy" had infiltrated not only the party, but the entire country. Eventually, Nuon Chea acknowledges how extensive the killings became.
Photo Caption: Thet Sambath on the road in Cambodia
Credit: Courtesy of Enemies of the People
Sources:
» Cambodian Genocide Group (CGG). "The Genocide."
» Frontline World. "Cambodia -- Pol Pot's Shadow."
» Independent Lens. "War and Cambodia."
» Jackson, Karl D., ed. Cambodia, 1975-1978: Rendezvous with Death. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989.
» Kiernan, Ben. The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008
» Loy, Irwin. "30 Years After Khmer Rouge, Killing Fields, Cambodia Grows New Generation of Art Conservators." The Christian Science Monitor, June 12, 2010
» POV. "Discussion Guide: The Flute Player."
» POV. "Press Release: Enemies of the People."
» Short, Philip. Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare. New York: Holt, 2005.
» U.S. Department of State. "Cambodia."
» Yale University. "Bombs Over Cambodia. (PDF)"
After 10 years of negotiations, the United Nations and the Cambodian government established the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) to try senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge. Nuon Chea, featured in Enemies of the People, was arrested in 2007 and charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.
In 2006, after 10 years of international negotiations, the United Nations and the Cambodian government set up a unique hybrid tribunal to try the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge for international crimes. They called the tribunal the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). According to David Scheffer, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, the creation of the ECCC took longer than the creation of any other international or hybrid criminal tribunal in the post-Cold War era.
In September 2007, the ECCC ordered the arrest of Nuon Chea. He was charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes. In 2009, the charge of genocide was added to his indictment, as well as to the indictments of three other former senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge. Later in 2009, 30 years after the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, the ECCC processed its first case: the trial of Kaing Guek Eav (more commonly known as Duch), the prison chief at Tuol Sleng detention center, who was charged with the deaths of over 10,000 prisoners in Phnom Penh. In July 2010, Duch was sentenced to 35 years in prison (later reduced to 19 years).
Meanwhile, the second preliminary ECCC hearing involving Nuon Chea and three former senior leaders, was held from June 27-30, 2011. A full trial of the four leaders will be held later this year. Nuon Chea walked out of the proceedings on the first day of the hearing saying that he did not believe he would receive a fair hearing. Court prosecutors told reporters that they thought the hearing was a success. One of the four, Khieu Samphan, told the judges that he was ready to cooperate with UN officials. The film Enemies of the People is expected to play a part in the proceedings. In the years since the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror there have been many books and films on the subject, most of them told from the point of view of the victims, but the true motives and experiences of the perpetrators have remained largely unexplained.
Some observers think the trials may hide more than they will reveal, and they doubt members of the current government, themselves former Khmer Rouge, will allow the whole truth to come out. Many concerns have been voiced over the inclusion of Cambodian judges in the tribunal, with the chief concern being that they may have an allegiance to the Cambodian government's political agenda. Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen has articulated a common sentiment, saying, "We should dig a hole and bury the past." Hun Sen has also said that he will not allow any additional prosecutions beyond those already under indictment. He has been accused of concealing evidence to protect senior figures in his party from being held accountable. The Open Society Justice Initiative, an international legal watchdog group, says the court ultimately may decide to strike a deal with the government, agreeing to end later cases in exchange for full cooperation from the government and witnesses in the upcoming trials of Nuon Chea and the three surviving Khmer Rouge leaders.
The trials are taking place in former military headquarters a half-hour's drive outside the city, and, according to Agence France-Presse, nine out of 10 Cambodians are unable to name the Khmer Rouge suspects going to trial. According to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, a quarter of respondents in a survey of 1,000 Cambodians reported knowing nothing about the tribunal. While this figure is down from 39 percent in 2008, one of the University of California researchers said that educating Cambodians about the upcoming trials would be "a key challenge" for the court. As the only war crimes court in the world to try its suspects in the country where the crimes took place, one of the court's main goals is to get Cambodians involved and interested in the trials.
According to the U.S. Department of State, donor countries have provided over $100 million to date in support of the United Nations-backed tribunal, including $6.8 million from the United States.
Image: A still from Enemies of the People
Credit: Courtesy of Enemies of the People
Sources:
» Reporters. "Jailed Leader Offers Cooperation to Tribunal." VOA News, June 30, 2011.
» Mydans, Seth. "Khmer Rouge Leader Leaves Court, in Sign of Legal Wrangling to Come." The New York Times, June 27, 2011.
» "Cambodians 'Know Little About Khmer Rouge Trial.'" Agence France-Presse, January 1, 2000.
» Cambodia Tribunal Monitor. "Civil Party Participation at ECCC: Overview."
» Dilger, Patrick. "Back to the Killing Fields." Yale Alumni Magazine, April 1996.
» Eckel, Mike. "Groups Fear Khmer Rouge Tribunal May Halt Trials." Associated Press, May 4, 2011.
» Enemies of the People. "Press Kit."
» Mydans, Seth. "Trial Begins for Khmer Rouge Leader." The New York Times, February 16, 2009.
» The New York Times. "Khmer Rouge."
» Scheffer, David. "The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia." In International Criminal Law, Cherif Bassiouni, Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 2008
» U.S. Department of State. "Cambodia."