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Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia, bordered by Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Phnom Penh, the capital, is also the largest city in Cambodia, and serves as the cultural, political, and political center of the country. Cambodia has a population of 15 million, with minorities of Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams, and tribal peoples. Camobdia's recent history has been defined by the Cambodian genocide. In 1975, a Communist regime called the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, overthrew the Cambodian government. To achieve their dream of an agrarian utopia, they immediately evacuated all cities and relocated the entire population to the countryside to work in labor camps. In an effort to create a classless society, the intelligentsia and bourgeois class of Cambodia were killed. Ethnic minorities were exterminated and every Cambodian lived in constant fear for their life. Approximately two million people, one quarter of the population, died from execution, starvation and disease in the four years that the Khmer Rouge were in power. For the past 30 years there has not yet been a comprehensive effort to remember the genocide and to provide an opportunity for healing for ordinary Cambodians. Survivors have generally remained silent about their experiences; there has been a lack of dialogue even among family members. Thus, the younger generation has a very limited knowledge about their country’s history and some have grown up believing that the genocide did not happen at all. But today a dialogue is beginning to open up. Education about the Khmer Rouge has been recently permitted in high schools, although in a very limited and filtered way. In 2008, the government approved the use of a textbook about the Khmer Rouge era in high school. A justice process called the Extraordinary Chambers of Cambodia (ECCC) has recently opened, making Cambodia the latest frontier in international justice and human rights issues. More information can be found at: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/cambodia/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=cambodia&st=cse http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia http://ki-media.blogspot. |
