Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)

ANLONG VENG PEACE CENTER
Searching for Truthfulness and Reconciliation

Ek Choeun or Chhit Choeun (known as Ta Mok or Ta 15), CPK Secretary, Southwest Zone, 1977; Chief of the General Staff Revolutionary Armed Forces of Democratic Kampuchea and Commander in Chief, Southwest Zone Armed Forces. Source: Documentation Center of Cambodia Archives.

ANLONG VENG PEACE CENTER

2014 - present

It has been 25 years since the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement. Peace remains a ‘fragile one’ in Cambodia. As one of the beneficiaries from the agreement, and in my role now as director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, I would like to highlight the work of the Anlong Veng Peace Center and its contribution to the peaceful process. Peace will remain to be a long road for all Cambodians, if we don't walk together. Youk Chhang

ANLONG VENG PEACE CENTER

'A long road if we don't walk together'
An Initiative of The Documentation Center of Cambodia in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism

The Anlong Veng Peace Center is dedicated to memory, reconciliation, and peace building, and it achieves these objectives through peace studies and genocide education. Peace studies represent the Center’s effort to identify and analyze violent and non-violent behaviors as well as structural mechanisms that precipitate conflict. Genocide education represents the Center’s effort to establish curricula that address the fundamental questions of what happened and why during the Khmer Rouge period. Both educational approaches are utilized with a view toward encouraging peace, education, and the rule of law.

The Center’s new headquarters office is situated in Anlong Veng—the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge regime. Working closely with the local community, schools, and tourism officials, the Center looks forward to bridging the divide between the former Khmer Rouge (KR) and Cambodia’s younger generation. The intent of the Center is to provide a variety of educational and tourism-related programs that help preserve the oral and physical history of the region as well as building peace and reconciliation between generations and across social divides.

The Center not only aims to provide a critical understanding of Cambodia’s violent history, but it also seeks to convey a basic understanding of different theories on conflict resolution and transformation. Using its new office space as a headquarters, the Center will meet its objectives through future programs centering on interactive discussions, guided tours of local historical sites, and a curriculum that uses individual stories to convey historical and moral lessons. The tours will be rehabilitative to victims and former KR cadres in that they will provide victims and former cadres an opportunity to reflect on and impart their understanding of their experiences during the Democratic Kampuchea period and the civil war years (1979-1998) that followed.

Through face-to-face discussions with victims and former KR cadres, the program will challenge participants to contemplate the diversity of human experience (both instances of humanity and inhumanity) during times of conflict and social upheaval. The stories validate the significance of individual human beings, and they help foster the most basic components of conflict transformation and civic skills. Concepts such as the ability to reflect, think objectively, and empathize with others are cornerstones to any peaceful, democratic society. The project will focus on historical empathy as its core objective, and the students, teachers, and tourguides who attend the program will be responsible for serving as representatives in their local communities, sharing their learning and insights.

The establishment of the Anlong Veng Peace Center in Anlong Veng represents a start of the Center’s work towards its mutually reinforcing aims of Peace, Education, and Sustainable Tourism. Through these core objectives, the Center aims to become a leading institution for the development of sustainable approaches to achieving reconciliation and peace in Cambodia and the region.

Background

■

DC-Cam's use of logo permitted by the Ministry of Tourism

■

Report on the progress of preserving and developing Anlong Veng historical site 2015 and future tasks in 2016.

■

Minute of the Achievements of developing Anlong Veng historical sites in 2015 and the first semester of 2016 and future tasks for the second semester of 2016 and 2017.

■

Announcement on Preservation and Maintenance of the Urn of Genocide Victims in Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) and Conversion of Anglong Veng Area into the Historical Tourism Site

■

Sub-degree of the Anlong Veng’s Designated Historical Sites

■

Decision on the Setting up of an Inter-Ministry Committee on the Preservation and Development of the Anlong Veng Historical Sites

■

Letter to Mr. Chhang Youk, Director of Documentation of Cambodia, on Request to Cooperate and Provide the Documents Related to History of Anlong Veng Area, Khmer Rouge Last Stronghold

■

Letter to from Ministry of Tourism, Including Two Officials and Secretary into the Inter-Ministries Committee

■

Decision on the Creation of Inter-Ministries Committee to Govern and Develop Anlong Veng Historical Tourism Site

■

Invitation Letter, Inviting Mr. Youk Chhang, Director of Documentation Center of Cambodia, to Attend the Inter-Ministries Meeting

■

Invitation Letter, Inviting Mr. Ly Sok-Kheang, Team Leader of Publicizing History and Khmer Rouge Tribunal, to Attend the Inter-Ministries Meeting

■

Response Letter to the Director of Documentation Center of Cambodia, on the Request for Feedback on the Draft “Anlong Veng History” Book

■

Decision on the Establishment of Work Group of the Inter-Ministry Committee on the Preservation and Development of the Anlong Veng Historical Sites

■

Minute for the Inter-Ministries Meeting, on Governing and Developing Anlong Veng Historical Tourism Site

■

Report to Samdech Akeak Mohasena Padei Decho Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia

■

Letter to Mr. Ly Sok-Kheang, Team Leader of Publicizing History and Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Informing about the Delay of Meeting Date

■

Invitation Letter, Inviting Mr. Ly Sok-Kheang, Team Leader of Publicizing History and Khmer Rouge Tribunal, to Attend the Inter-Ministries Meeting

■

Sub-Decree on National Day of Remembrance

Program Development: Revitalizing the Anlong Veng History for Reconciliation

■

Reconciliation Process in Cambodia: 1979-2007 Before the Khmer Rouge Tribunal

■

A History of Anlong Veng Community: Final Stronghold of the Khmer Rouge Movement (English) | (Khmer)

■

Guidebook for Tour Guides (English) | (Khmer)
This guidebook is a tool for the trainer of tour guides and teachers in a workshop on the history of Anlong Veng and Cambodia's recent, national history. The chapters and activities cover general historical content as well as stories, and topics specific to the particular profession. The book promotes a basic understanding of the national history and the community of Anlong Veng as well as the individual stories that put this history into context. The stories in this guidebook match the stories in the Anlong Veng history book. While the guidebook offers materials specific to tour guides, it is also a useful tool for teachers, tourists, and the general public, as it addresses national, regional, and local history. Foreword by His Excellency, Dr. Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism.

■

Brochure (English) | (Khmer)

Reports

■

Democratic Kampuchea History: Classroom Complementary to Daily Narratives

■

Khav Chanla: Oppression Breeds Resistance

■

Anlong Veng Walking Trails: A Bold Step to Peace

■

Villagers: A Source of Historical Knowledge

■