VOANews.com

សម្លេងសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក ▪ Khmerពត៌មានទុកចិត្តបាន តាំងពីឆ្នាំ ១៩៥៥

 

Today at VOA:

News in 45 Languages
Khmer Rouge Victims Consider Reparation


27 November 2008

Survivors of the Khmer Rouge want justice for those killed and reparation for the rest.
Survivors of the Khmer Rouge want justice for those killed and reparation for the rest.
Not only survivors, but Cambodia’s younger generation too is seeking reparations for the nearly 2 million victims of the Khmer Rouge. Nobody yet knows what exactly that will mean.

“We need hospitals for victims,” Chhou Ny Sinan, project officer for justice and reconciliation of Youth for Peace, said Thursday, during a two-day seminar on reparations for victims. “We need support to build centers for the old, widows and children.”

Victims of the regime, non-governmental agencies and other participants discussed Wednesday and Thursday the needs of victims, as a Khmer Rouge tribunal moves forward.

Some victims said they needed common reparation, such as monuments, schools and hospitals. And they need real justice.

“We need a place that we can pray for the souls of the victims,” said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, whose parents were killed by the regime. Crying, she added: “1.7 million lives, who died, this is costly and we must have respect for them, and give them honors.”

Other survivors of the regime, such Chum Mei, a former prisoner of Tuol Sleng, whose director, Duch, is to go on trial next year, and Sum Rithy, who lived through a Khmer Rouge prison in Siem Reap, said individual reparation should be available.

The internal rules of the Khmer Rouge tribunal do not allow for individual reparation, such as awarding cash to victims, but for “psychological” or common reparation.

“Compensation cannot be done for individuals,” Kong Srim, president of the tribunal’s Supreme Court, said Thursday.

However, lawyers for the tribunal said the internal rules are not clear enough in their definition of “psychological.”

They asked for recommendations for an amendment to the rules.


Listen to This Report Khmer audio aired 27 November 2008 (0.99 MB)
Download  (MP3)
Listen to This Report Khmer audio aired 27 November 2008 (0.99 MB)
Listen (MP3)
E-mail This Article E-mail this article
Print This Article Print Version
  Cambodia News
US Voices Concern Over Border Dispute

  More Stories
Radio Journalist Faces Defamation Charges
Tribunal Limits Civil Party Participation
Hun Sen Calls Thai Premier ‘Stupid,’ ‘Crazy’  Audio Clip Available
New Documentary Raises Arsenic Alarm  Audio Clip Available
More See Country Going ‘Wrong’: Survey  Audio Clip Available
Farmers Lose Thousands of Dollars in Culling
Hun Sen Wants Trade Balance With Neighbors
Experts Urge Vigilance Against Child Sex Abuse
Original Opposition Party Name Available  Audio Clip Available
Status of Deported Uighurs Still Unknown  Audio Clip Available
Shadowy Workrooms Hurting Garment Industry  Audio Clip Available
Banks Forced to Reduce Interest Rates  Audio Clip Available
Bird Flu Confirmed in Takeo, Culling Begins  Audio Clip Available
Befriending the Khmer Rouge, To Report  Audio Clip Available
Tribunal Judges Consider Duch Verdict  Audio Clip Available
Behind Sundance Award, a Decade of Reporting  Audio Clip Available
Tribunal Budget Sees End in 2015
No Policy of Violence on Border: General  Audio Clip Available
10,000 Ducks Dead Near Vietnam Border  Audio Clip Available
Tribunal Undecided on Use of New Film  Audio Clip Available
Jail Sentence a ‘Cover Up’: Sam Rainsy  Audio Clip Available
Rights Group Urges Review of Drug Detentions  Audio Clip Available
'Enemies of the People' Wins Sundance's World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Documentary  Video clip available
Stop Killings and Bring Perpetrators to Court: Family of 1997 Grenade Attack  Audio Clip Available
China Played No Role in Khmer Rouge Politics: Ambassador  Audio Clip Available
Rights Violations Worsened in 2009: Group  Audio Clip Available
Doctor Discusses Coronary Artery Disease  Audio Clip Available
Tribunal To Limit Civil Parties in Court  Audio Clip Available
Cambodia Seeks End to Child Labor  Audio Clip Available
Nobel Laureate: Human Resource is the Major Problem Facing Cambodia  Audio Clip Available
UN Envoy Wants Cooperation on Rights  Audio Clip Available
Cambodia’s Roads Claim Over 1,600 Lives Annually  Audio Clip Available
Congressmen Mull Cambodian Debt Forgiveness  Audio Clip Available
Hun Sen Warns Against ‘Extremists’.  Audio Clip Available
UN Rights Envoy Arrives for Assessment  Audio Clip Available
Hundreds Get Flu Vaccine at US Temple  Audio Clip Available
Security Concerns Hampered FBI in 1997 Investigation  Audio Clip Available