FOURTH QUARTERLY REPORT

Magazine and Radio. We have kept pace with the production of both the Khmer and English versions of our magazine. We have also increased the reach of our radio broadcasts.

1.1     Documentation

1.1.1      Cataloguing and Database Management

Our documentation work has entailed collecting and cataloguing documents, and managing two major databases: the Cambodian Genocide Bibliographic Database (CBIB) and the Cambodian Genocide Biographical Database (CBIO). Both databases were developed by a team of academics, technicians, and documentalists at Yale University, DC-Cam, and the University of New South Wales. They hold information on both Khmer Rouge personnel and their victims. These databases also facilitate our program of family tracing, whereby survivors of the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) era can search for information on lost loved ones. Because they are Internet-accessible and available on CD-Rom, expatriate Cambodians can also utilize them.

This quarter, our team continued entering data and cataloguing the “D” collection for the CBIB database. This collection includes general Khmer Rouge documents ranging from notebooks to biographies, confessions, reports, and execution logs. It also encompasses the Anlong Veng (a Khmer Rouge stronghold until 1996) collection of such post-1979 Khmer Rouge materials as school textbooks, minutes of meetings, and reports. Work on this collection began in late 2003. This quarter, we catalogued 8,454 documents, bringing the number completed to 24,184. (There are 24,184 D documents in total, including new documents acquired this quarter).

In early June, we began keying in items in the Khmer version of the D collection. The database fields vary depending on the type of document. For example, some of the fields for execution logs include the document’s title and number of pages, while those for cadre biographies include names, dates, personal background, rank, date of arrest, number of pages, and source of information. This quarter, we keyed 3,573 records into this searchable database, bringing the total number in Khmer to 7,904. We also keyed 1,563 records in English, bringing the total to 4,212.

Cataloguing the “R” (Renakse) documents has been postponed because staff have been reallocated to other tasks. These are petitions made in the 1980s to the successor government (the Peoples Republic of Kampuchea) to oust the Khmer Rouge from their seat at the United Nations. Signed by millions of people, they include accounts of horrific crimes and describe mass burial pits, prisons, and other evidence of Khmer Rouge terror. To date, we have catalogued 701 of the 2,700 R documents.

Finally, since late 2003, our documentation team has been preparing a printable index for our CBIO database, which contains 10,612 biographies of Khmer Rouge cadres and the general population. So far, we have worked on the field layout and design (name, gender, place and date of birth, names of mother and father). This quarter, we added 109 pages of information gathered by our Promoting Accountability (PA) team.

This quarter marks our final decision to enter information from our documents into a new, more user-friendly database with increased capacity and a new format/field design.

1.1.2     Microfilming

Our Microfilming Project, conducted with Yale University’s Sterling Memorial Library, aims to preserve historical documents related to the Khmer Rouge. This process allows researchers and legal investigators to access our archival information without handling original documents, many of which have become fragile with age.

This quarter, we continued to work on official Communist Party of Kampuchea documents from the DK era (our D collection.) By the third quarter, we had microfilmed 235 reels (176,406 pages) from the D collection, thus completing the filming of this collection. This quarter, we microfilmed 12 reels (5,254 pages) of the Renakse documents and began developing our own microfilms (see below).

* began this quarter

We have been cooperating with Yale University’s Sterling Library since 1998 on duplicating our microfilm records for security and academic purposes. We send the negatives to the library to be developed; they keep the masters and return a copy to us. We have sent an average of 15 reels to Yale each quarter, and have now sent 449 reels of our D, L, I and J collections (the last package of 18 reels was sent on January 19, 2004). To date, Sterling Library has developed 387 reels and returned them to us.

In addition, we have sent a complete R collection of 33 reels to Yale. The last 18 reels were sent on November 24, 2004. To date, Sterling Library has developed 18 reels and returned them to us.

Because Yale has not fulfilled its latest contractual obligations to DC-Cam (the deadline for their completion of the microfilm was December 31, 2004), we have decided to develop our microfilm in-house, using a developer/duplicator that was installed last month. This will allow DC-Cam to retain the negatives in-house. As soon as Yale returns the 77 remaining reels to us, we will institute a new arrangement. Should Yale wish to have copies, we will send them upon the execution of a purchase order.

1.1.3     Photo Exhibitions

Our photographic exhibitions of former Khmer Rouge cadres and leaders, and of forensic evidence continue to be shown at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

We are planning to contribute photographs to an exhibition Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation is mounting at its headquarters next year. The exhibit, whose working title is “The Trauma of Terror and the Challenges of Coming to Terms with the Past,” will be followed by a symposium which a number of DC-Cam staff will attend.

1.1.4     The Digital Photo Archiving Project

We completed this one-year project in December with the publication of 2,200 copies of the monograph entitled Stilled Lives: Photographs from the Cambodian Genocide. The book, which tells the stories of 51 men and women who joined the Khmer Rouge, is based on interviews with over 100 former Khmer Rouge cadre and their family members. It contains 200 photographs.

1.2     Promoting Accountability

To support the Khmer Rouge tribunal, we have worked on a number of programs to ensure access to our documents and to keep the public informed. 

1.2.1     Public Access to DC-Cam Archives

DC-Cam is the world’s largest repository of original documentary materials relating to Democratic Kampuchea. Our archives are of great historical interest and may provide important evidentiary materials in any accountability process relating to the DK regime. The over 600,000 pages of documents we have amassed include: 

• Documents dating from the DK era: Communist Party of Kampuchea correspondence, confession transcripts, committee minutes and reports, Khmer Rouge biographies, foreign documents, media materials, cadre diaries and notebooks, and documents from foreign countries.
   

• Post-DK documentary materials: survivor petitions, 1979 trial documents, interview transcripts taken from survivors of the regime as well as scholars’ interviews with former Communist Party of Kampuchea officials, mapping reports, and photographs.

Guidelines for Access. On October 4 and 5, 2004, Cambodia’s new national assembly ratified:

• The Agreement between the United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodia concerning the Prosecution under Cambodian Law of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea
   

• The Law on Amendments to the Law on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea.
   

In order to provide the court and other authorized officials with full access to our documents, we worked with our legal advisors to develop and issue a set of rules and guidelines for viewing them as the tribunal process begins. The guidelines are designed to ensure that our documents remain both available for review and as secure as possible. As the tribunal process unfolds, we will develop a more specific set of guidelines to ensure that we assist the proceedings as effectively as possible. We have provided copies of those procedures to the appropriate UN and Cambodian authorities.

A Response Team for the Tribunal. In late 2003 we began to plan for a tribunal response team. This team would comprise Cambodian and non-Cambodian lawyers and political scientists/historians. Two of these experts would work on the team full time and would be assisted by shorter-term personnel on an as-needed basis; they would be supervised by a DC-Cam staff member familiar with our Center’s documentary holdings. This independent and neutral team will be in a position to help tribunal and authorized officials (as well as the public) carry out research and documentary reviews as needed. Also, Center staff will translate additional documents into English in advance of the tribunal.

Public Information Room. To meet the anticipated need for documentation materials at the tribunal, in late April 2004 DC-Cam informally opened its new Public Information Room (PIR). Access is given to legal personnel (representing both the defense and prosecution), scholars, reporters, and the general public. DC-Cam’s Response Team of documentation specialists, translators, and others provide assistance in searching for and interpreting documents.

The PIR also functions as a library and educational forum. To date, it has received over 1,000 visitors, hosted guest lectures and in-house training, screened four films on the regime, and provided office space for our Victims of Torture Project staff.

DC-Cam brought together and met with hundreds of Muslim leaders from throughout the country, Buddhist nuns, and representatives of youth organizations last quarter (see Section 1.2.5). This would not have been possible without the space provided by the PIR. This quarter, we continued to hold meetings with nuns, students, and research trainees.

We are also in the process of seeking support to bring one or more experts from within Cambodia and overseas (e.g., historians, document preservationists) to work closely with our Response Team before and during the tribunal.

1.2.2     The Accountability Project (PA)

This project aims to draw a picture of subordinate-superior relationships during Democratic Kampuchea and to identify a pool of survivors (victims and cadres) that may be helpful to the Khmer Rouge tribunal. The recent ratification of the Khmer Rouge law and UN/Cambodia agreement signal the need for DC-Cam to both accelerate and expand the scope of this project, and we are confident in our ability to do this.

This quarter, our PA team operated field offices in Kandal and Kampot provinces.

* This activity was slow due to staff allocations to other work, but is expected to pick up in early 2005 with the recruitment of additional volunteers.

DC-Cam also contracted with Stephen Heder from the University of London to produce a manuscript analyzing the nearly 2,000 interviews (30,000 pages) we have conducted so far with former Khmer Rouge cadres. Specifically, he will determine if the interviews provide information relevant to the cases of the former Khmer Rouge officials most likely to stand trial: Ieng Sary, Mok, Duch, Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Thirith, and Mam Nai (deputy prison chief of S-21). Dr. Heder has prepared English summaries of the historically salient points in selected interviews, while preparing the materials for legal analysis and presentation to the Extraordinary Chambers. He completed his manuscript this quarter; it will be analyzed by our legal advisor during 2005.

In this quarter, Dr. Heder accompanied our field teams to conduct several follow-up interviews with cadres who may be important in providing indications of the leadership chain of the Khmer Rouge. He has also compiled and translated hundreds of pages of information on each cadre. We expect Dr. Heder’s analysis to be completed in December 2004.

1.2.3     The Mapping Project

This project, which began in 1995, involved seeking out and mapping mass graves, former DK prisons, and genocide memorials using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. Our mapping team identified 19,521 mass graves in 391 clusters, 194 Khmer Rouge security offices, and 80 memorials constructed by survivors of the DK regime. Although the project is formally closed, we are continuing to enter its master data set into our GIS database and have completed a 450-page field report with 180 photographs.

1.2.4     The Forensics Study

Based on existing mapping data, a team of three North American research and forensics experts and DC-Cam’s mapping team conducted a detailed reconnaissance of mass graves and memorials to identify sites for a full-scale forensic exhumation. In the first quarter, we mounted a forensic exhibition of human skeletal remains at the Tuol Sleng Museum and produced a project report on undisturbed graves in two Cambodian villages. Portions of the exhibit can now be viewed on our website. One of the North American experts hired for the project (Dr. Michael Pollenen, FRCPC medical director and forensic pathologist of the Office of the Chief Coroner, Ontario, and associate professor of pathology, University of Toronto) was to complete a monograph on forensic findings and crimes against humanity in Cambodia. Because Dr. Pollenen did not fulfill his obligations, we have decided to close this project, but we hope he will eventually produce a report on the project.

1.2.5     Pre-trial Outreach

Last quarter, we met with nearly 400 Cham Muslim leaders (hakem) from all parts of the country, 32 Buddhist nuns, and members of 22 youth and student associations, in order to engage them in the tribunal process. These groups represent a variety of religious beliefs and ages. They have been given an introduction to the tribunal and asked to reflect on its importance and their participation. The broader the public involvement, the more the tribunal will be viewed as effective and responsive to the needs of the Cambodian people.

We also have two new projects that work with the Cham community. The first is an oral history project. Through hakem, we have developed and distributed 30 questionnaires to 336 Cham villages throughout the country. The questionnaires include 24 questions asking about the roots of the community and their experiences during the Khmer Rouge regime. The second project aims to disseminate information about Chams – their history, livelihoods, and other relevant aspects – through the development of an Internet web page. The website will enable members of this community to communicate with academics, interested members of the public, and other Muslim communities worldwide.

With the nuns, we have planned to organize a march for peace and justice. They would also participate in a number of public forums hosted by DC-Cam. The forums will bring together victims and perpetrators to discuss sexual abuse during Democratic Kampuchea and their impacts today.

The student groups we met with have planned to go door-to-door in several areas of Cambodia to explain the process, activities, and benefits of the tribunal to citizens.

1.2.6         DC-Cam Overseas Offices

Last quarter, we set up an office in the United States at Rutgers University to collect and disseminate information on Khmer Rouge history, with a particular emphasis on assisting the Cambodian North American community. It will also: 

• Serve as a reciprocal exchange between DC-Cam and Rutgers’ students and faculty

• Facilitate internships/externships at DC-Cam for Rutgers’ students

• Present research and training opportunities for Rutgers’ students and faculty

• Provide a venue for exhibitions, conferences, seminars

• Locate information for and provide translations to personnel from the United Nations, members of the legal community, scholars, and others interested in the upcoming tribunal.

A team of filmmakers under contract to the US State Department visited DC-Cam last summer. Their film is nearly complete, and DC-Cam is featured prominently in it. Our US office will show this film to visitors to acquaint them with the Center.

1.3     Public Education and Reconciliation Outreach

1.3.1     The Legal Training Project

In response to recommendations made during last summer’s legal training course at DC-Cam, we are planning to hold another course in 2005. It will focus on the defense counsel and be sponsored by the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. In the fourth quarter, we screened several Harvard University law students who had applied for internship teaching positions for the course, and are now coordinating the training.

1.3.2     The Victims of Torture Project

We began this two-year project in late 2003 with the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO). It involves counseling for people who suffered abuse under the DK regime (both victims and perpetrators) and are traumatized today. Our primary roles are to assist the TPO in identifying subjects for care.

Following TPO training on counseling and trauma in early 2004, we produced a questionnaire that we use in interviews to identify traumatized individuals as well as obtain local perspectives on justice and reconciliation. In this quarter, we conducted 52 interviews in Kandal, Kampot, and Takeo provinces during 4 field trips (20 days), bringing the total interviews to date to 196. After the interview transcripts are complete, we refer prospective patients to TPO (we expect to interview 388 people by the end of the project). For the purposes of analytical trauma studies, reconciliation, and history, we continued to transcribe interviews this quarter and to key interview data into the CBIB database.

1.3.3     Film Projects

Last quarter, we completed and released Rachana Phat’s 30-minute film “The Khmer Rouge Rice Fields: The Story of Rape Survivor Tang Kim,” about the rape of a woman during DK. The film is being shown at our Public Information Room and daily at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. On November 26, 2004, the film was screened at the international competition “Prix Bruno Mersch” in Brussels. It was also screened at the Asian Cultural Council in New York in December.

DVD productions of the film have earned $642, which is being used to support the education of Taing Kim’s children.

1.3.4     The Koh Sla Development and Reconciliation Project

In an expansion of the Victims of Torture Project, we have targeted the Koh Sla area of Kampot province for special activities. Koh Sla is home to a large number of recent defectors from the Khmer Rouge. Because of the sensitivities involved with this population, we are working carefully to build their trust through informal conversations, the erection of community street signs, the distribution of magazines, and radio broadcasts. As a result, our relationship with this community has improved dramatically.

In the fourth quarter, joint TPO/DC-Cam trips were made to Takeo and Kandal provinces to provide TPO group orientations in preface to counseling traumatized individuals. As a result, we determined that counseling will begin in these provinces in January 2005. Family counseling in Koh Sla will take place following counseling in the other two provinces.

1.3.5     Web Site Development (www.dccam.org)

This quarter, we posted 119 photographs from the Digital Photoarchives Project onto the Internet. We have also continued working on the re-design of our website to make information easier to access and the site more attractive.

In addition, we have nearly completed work on a public forum for our website. At present, we are exploring a number of issues surrounding the use of foul or defamatory language on the site. Once we have formulated a policy and determined if we can successfully block such language, we will open the forum, which the public can use to exchange views on Democratic Kampuchea and other issues. Although we initially planned to develop a chat room for Cambodian students at the University of Massachusetts/Lowell campus, we determined that we could provide a wider range of services by opening a forum for all those visiting our website.

Last, the Highest Council for Islamic Religious Affairs Cambodia is now helping us to collect data (number of people in villages, number of males/females, children attending school, livelihood, economic conditions) on Cambodia’s Cham Muslim community. We will use these data to develop a webite for the Cham community.

1.4     Research, Translation and Publication

1.4.1     Historical Research and Writing

Our Research Project aims to develop an historical understanding of the DK era and to build the capacity of young Cambodian scholars to produce quality writing and research. We also publish the work of international scholars who conduct extensive research at DC-Cam. Our main products are the short monographs in our Documentation Series.

In the fourth quarter, we published Stilled Lives: Photographs from the Cambodian Genocide, by Wynne Cougill, Pivoine Pang, Chhayran Ra, and Sopheak Sim (see Section 1.1.4).

The following manuscripts are now being nearly ready for publication: 

• Tum Teav: A Study of a Cambodian Literary Classic by George Chigas III, who recently obtained his PhD from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (with author for final review before layout)

• Terror from the Southwest Zone by Meng-Try Ea (with author for final review before layout)

Editing will begin next quarter on two additional manuscripts: 

• The Winds from The West: Khmer Rouge Purges in Mondul Kiri, by Sara Colm with Sorya Sim

• The Cham Rebellion by Osman Ysa.

DC-Cam produced a book chapter this quarter: “Documenting the Crimes of Democratic Kampuchea,” describing our Center’s holdings. It will be published in the edited volume Awaiting Justice: Essays on Khmer Rouge Accountability (Jaya Ramji, Jason Abrams, and Beth Van Schaack, eds., Mellon Press, 2005).

We have postponed two papers because their author (Vannak Huy) is on academic leave at Rutgers University. One is on history and reconciliation through painting, based on the experiences of an S-21 survivor, and the other is a collection of essays submitted to our Research Forum: Preserving the History of the Khmer Rouge Regime.

1.4.2     Monographs in Preparation

In mid-2003, we began working with Dr. Ian Harris of Oxford and Lancaster Universities (UK) on a study of Buddhism under the Khmer Communists from 1970 to 1990. So far, he has made four research visits to Cambodia. In addition to archival work at DC-Cam, the National Archives of Cambodia and the Buddhist Institute. Dr. Harris has conducted field interviews in Kandal, Battambang, Kompong Speu, Takeo, Kompong Cham and Kratie provinces. To date, he has conducted 48 interviews with key informants. In 2005, Dr. Harris ploans to conduct fieldwork and interviews in Kompong Thom, Stung Treng and Svay Rieng as well as in some of the Mekong delta provinces of southern Vietnam (some ethnic Khmer monks are now living in southern Vietnam). The project will result in a published manuscript in our Documentation Series in late 2005.

In 2003, John D. Ciorciari began work on a short book dealing with the relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Khmer Rouge regime. Mr. Ciorciari is former Wai Seng Senior Research Scholar at Oxford University. We assisted him in conducting field research. We plan to combine his text with an introductory guide to the Khmer Rouge tribunal that Mr. Ciociari wrote with members of our legal training course staff. We anticipate that it will be published in 2005.

1.4.3     Translation and Publication of Foreign Books

This quarter, Stephen Heder’s Seven Candidates for Prosecution (which DC-Cam published as a monograph in 2004) was translated into Japanese by Professor Ken Yotsumoto, Faculty of Law, Nagoya Keizai University. We anticipate that it will be published in early 2005. We also completed translations of Journey to Light by Ronnie Yim Sut and Lucky Child by Luong Ung.  

1.4.4     Research Forum: Preserving the History of the Khmer Rouge Regime

Following the success of the first contest, we have embarked on a new round of the essay contest for the period April 17, 2004 to February 29, 2005. We have announced this contest in April through Rasmei Kampuchea and Searching for the Truth. Since then, eight essays have been submitted to the competition.

1.5     Magazine and Radio

1.5.1     The Magazine Project

Khmer Edition. This quarter, we produced three issues of Searching for the Truth, which contained 33 articles and 6 announcements for missing relatives, with a focus on the upcoming tribunal: 

• The documentation section contained 3 confessions of victims at S-21, a list of people killed at S-21, and KR perspectives on economic issues.

• The history section had 8 articles written by staff describing the lives of cadres and victims during Democratic Kampuchea.

• The legal section carried 4 articles on the KR tribunal and East Timor trials.

• The debate section’s 4 articles concerned funding for the tribunal and reconciliation in Cambodia.

• The family tracing section contained 3 personal stories, 2 articles by DC-Cam staff, and inquiry about the death of a father, and 6 announcements about missing relatives.

We also created a special page this quarter that contained a transcript of the National Assembly’s meeting to ratify the UN/Cambodian agreement, the amended KR law, and Sok An’s speech before the National Assembly.

From readers, we received 20 requests for information on missing relatives, a letter of appreciation, and a request for information.

We continued cooperating with LICADHO and TPO to distribute our magazine. We sold about 600 copies of the Khmer edition and distributed 20,400 free of charge. Our field teams also carried copies of magazines to villagers.

Special Quarterly English Edition. Our fourth quarter edition contained the following articles:  

• Documentation section: Two confession summaries, KR economic issues, and a document on interrogation.

• History section: The Imam Cham (traditional Muslim) community, and four stories on people or communities affected by the Khmer Rouge.

• Legal section: A report of the UN Secretary-General on the KR trials.

• Public debate section: A press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, A CHRAC request for tribunal funding, and a public debate on the tribunal held in Phnom Penh.

• Family tracing section: 2 articles on families seeking missing relatives, an article and a poem contributed by readers, 2 general letters, and 26 letters from readers seeking lost loved ones.

1.5.2     Radio Broadcasts

The table below shows a history of our broadcasts.

In this quarter we continued broadcasting from a station in Preah Vihear, which also reaches parts of Oddar Meanchey, Ratanak Kiri, Stung Treng, and Kampong Thom provinces. Our twice-daily readings there are similar to our broadcasts in Kampot. We are still in the process of considering broadcasts in Siem Reap, Kampong Cham, Sihanoukville and Svay Rieng.

To increase the cost-effectiveness of our production, we nearly completed the setup of a new studio housed at DC-Cam that will enable us to send pre-recorded tapes to local radio stations.

2.       Challenges AND RESPONSES

DC-Cam is facing five main challenges at present: our needs for fundraising (a solution is in process), translation assistance, security, public outreach, and cross-border cooperation.

2.1     Fundraising

After a long search, we have now identified a prospective consultant for fundraising. Negotiations are under way with ICCO Netherlands (International Catholic Church Organization) to fund the consulting service.

In addition, after reading an article in the newspaper suggesting that former US President Bill Clinton (who signed the 1994 Cambodia Genocide Justice Act) was coming to visit Cambodia, we wrote to his office. DC-Cam suggested that President Clinton lead a fundraising effort for the Khmer Rouge tribunal (to date, only $13 million has been pledged out of a total budget of $56 million). This suggestion was greeted with enthusiasm by members of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s office.

We have since had a reply from Clinton’s office, saying that he is not planning to come to Cambodia. In addition, recent articles in the US press said that President Bush has tapped the Clinton to fundraise for victims of the December 2004 tsunami. However, we plan to write him again to see if he might consider spearheading a fundraising effort for the tribunal from the United States.

2.2     Translation Capacity

Although we have recruited an additional translator this quarter, we will need additional volunteers and/or staff as the tribunal draws near. Finding skilled and experienced fundraisers will remain a constraint to our work, as such capacity is limited in Cambodia.

2.3     Security

As the prospective Khmer Rouge tribunal approaches, we have reviewed and modestly enhanced the security of our staff and documentary holdings. Our advisors and others have helped build our awareness of possible security concerns. Last quarter, we were apprised of indirect threats being made in Kampong Thom province toward the Center’s director, and in the fourth quarter, stopped a burglary in progress at DC-Cam.

We have sent back-up copies of approximately 70% of our documents to universities in the United States as a precaution against security threats that may come with the tribunal. Nevertheless, we have not taken all of the precautions that we will need in advance of the tribunal, and this remains a clear area for further reflection and resource allocation.

2.4     Public Outreach

As our 2002 survey confirmed, the more people we reach, the more people we know we need to reach. Given the country’s weak communications infrastructure outside the major urban areas, we are aware that we should be reaching a far more numerous audience (for example, our magazine is delivered only to subdistrict offices, and copies are not easily available to the larger public). In this regard, we have been planning a new project to help give commune residents and members of student groups nationwide direct access to the tribunal, but we are also aware of the need to increase the circulation and availability of our publications.

2.5     Cross-Border Cooperation

Several organizations overseas have recognized the expertise and experience that DC-Cam possesses, particularly in the areas of documentation and public outreach. Limited staff time and language constraints preclude our providing assistance to such organizations on a broader scale. Nonetheless, we submitted a proposal during the fourth quarter to form an “affinity group” of documentation centers from other parts of the world (e.g., former Yugoslavia, Burma, Guatemala) that would meet three or four times a year to share information and techniques, and work together to address constraints shared by its members. We would also call in international experts to help think through solutions to some of the technical documentation problems the Affinity Group wishes to work on.

The International Center for Transitional Justice, through a grant from the Canadian government, will sponsor the group’s first meeting. It will be held at DC-Cam during late February or early March.

3. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

The impacts of our projects have been felt in five major areas: government activity regarding the tribunal for former Khmer Rouge leaders, heightened community awareness of the need for both justice and reconciliation, media and academic coverage of the center’s activities, our cooperation with overseas organizations and NGOs, and staff development.

3.1     Government Activity toward Justice and Reconciliation

3.1.1     Ratification of KR Law and Tribunal Budget

On October 4 and 5, 2004, Cambodia’s national assembly ratified the Cambodian government-UN agreement on the Khmer Rouge tribunal and the law amending its Extraordinary Chambers. Although DC-Cam is not alone among the many actors that encouraged the ratification, we feel that our advocacy of finding justice for the Cambodian people, together with our willingness and ability to act impartially in the provision of documentation, had some part in this process. In addition, on December 8, the UN and Cambodian government met and finalized a tribunal budget of $56 million.

3.1.2     A New National Holiday

In July 2004, DC-Cam sent a request to the government and wrote an editorial for local newspapers proposing that the Cambodian government declare a national Day of Remembrance and Justice, which would be held on the first day of the tribunal for senior Khmer Rouge leaders. This holiday would allow the Cambodian public to honor the loved ones they lost during the regime, and DK survivors to remember their lives under the Khmer Rouge and share their experiences with others. We are pleased to note that on October 5, 2005, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that Cambodia will make this day a national holiday. The holiday has since been announced on the radio, television, and newspapers, although whether it will be established permanently has not been made clear.

3.2     Community Awareness

Virtually all of DC-Cam’s projects have a component to encourage community awareness of history, justice, and reconciliation. A few of the indicators of our success in this area are discussed briefly below.

Documentation. In late October, law student Yan Marin requested that DC-Cam search for the biography of Keat Chhon. Although we did not find one, we did find a biography of another cadre that led to information on Keat Chhon. A number of other requests met with less success.

We met in November with Ms. Virginia Jing-Yi Shing of the South and Southeast Asia Library of the University of California at Berkeley. She offered to help make our publications available to her network of Asian studies readers so the DC-Cam can increase its sales. She discussed with us an international library standard and system that can help make our books known worldwide and which we can access for book loans and sales.

Research. The impacts of DC-Cam activities in this area for the fourth quarter included: 

• Providing copies of over 400 pages of Khmer Rouge documents to a researcher from Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University who was researching Democratic Kampuchea’s Northwest and Southwest Zones.

•  Assisting a researcher who was looking into Khmer Rouge propaganda by referring him to a number of publications and sending him a CD of Khmer Rouge songs.

• Sending copies of KR documents and a DVD to a man in Germany.

• Providing a researcher with copies of Khmer Rouge maps, a military organization chart, and Anlong Veng documents.

• Providing review comments to authors Tom Fawthrop and Helen Jarvis on their new book, Getting away with Genocide: Elusive Justice and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

• Assisting a researcher from Germany who was documenting young people’s opinions of global topics. Three of our staff completed his 18-question survey.

• Assisting author Peter Frederiksen on his book Kindkys Af Pol Pot (about the relations between Democratic Kampuchea and Denmark).

Digital Photoarchives Project. In late November 2004, Stephen Morris, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of Why We Invaded Cambodia, visited DC-Cam and was given a preview copy of the project’s monograph, Stilled Lives. Professor Morris seemed impressed by the quality of the book and suggested that he would look for a publisher in the US that would print it. He also offered to write reviews for several international publications.

We have received eight requests for photos that appeared in the book, from such organizations as the Centre d’Histoire de la Resistance et de la Deportation of Lyon, France, a large museum focusing on the Second World War. Other requestors included documentary filmmakers, a documentary video artist who will exhibit mug shots from S-21 at a major group show in Rio de Janeiro, and a man working on de-mining projects in Cambodia. In the longer term, we may use these photographs in a text on the Khmer Rouge that we will prepare next year for high school students. In addition, we are now translating the book and will serialize it in our monthly magazine Searching for the Truth (circulation 7,000) and a local newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea Daily (circulation 25,000), and will broadcast stories from the book on the radio to several provinces.

Promoting Accountability. This project assisted a researcher from the University of Chicago who was interested in the rituals and practices surrounding the memory of death. We gave him access to our interview transcripts with former cadres and the relatives of those who died during the regime, who talked about how they dealt with their memories.

Our PA teams also collected dozens of requests from villagers who wanted us to look for their missing relatives. We were able to locate information on some of them (a teacher who was arrested in 1978, for example), and provided pictures of a few others.

Our PA teams also had extensive interactions with the media during the fourth quarter. For example, we assisted a Turkish television team in filming three former KR cadres in Kandal province and gave a correspondent from the BBC a tape recorded interview with a former medical staff during Democratic Kampuchea.

Victims of Torture Project. Two of our volunteers were featured in a seven-minute documentary by professional filmmaker Don Felipe. The film focused on DC-Cam, and in particular, its VOT project activities. The film was shown by Arte Satellite throughout Europe during November.

Based on the project’s annual report, Cambodge Soire wrote an article on former Khmer Rouge soldiers/cadres living in Koh Sla, entitled “Les ex-Khmer Rouge on peur de parler” (former Khmer Rouge are afraid of speaking out). This article was published on October 11.

In November and December, our VOT project staff met with representatives of the Center of Victims of Torture (CVT) upon the recommendation of Danuta Lockett of the US Victims of Torture Fund. CVT is starting a new project in Cambodia to strengthen mental health services for trauma/torture survivors. We responded to several of their questions, particularly on field interviews, DC-Cam, the VOT project and torture-related mental health needs in the rural areas where we work.

Searching for the Truth Magazine. This quarter, we received requests for 172 photographs from Cambodian and foreign researchers and journalists. These included staff from Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Stifung, UNDP, Krossover Media (Berlin), and Swedish and French nationals.

We are happy to report that one woman (Eng Kry, age 78, from Kandal province) was reunited with her sister-in-law, nephews, and nieces through announcements people placed in our magazine to look for their lost relatives.

Last, Meng Raksmey of Phnom Penh sent our magazine a 16-page story about his father, who was executedc by the Khmer Rouge in 1977. At the end of the text, he stated:

I, at that time, had the same feeling as Mrs. Laurence Pich: I will not forget; I do not want to forget, and I fear I would forget the death of my father and millions of Cambodians under the atrocious Great Leap Forward regime.

Like other victims of the Khmer Rouge regime, I want an independent court with international standards to be established as soon as possible. For me, there should not be any difficulties in dealing with the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders because I won’t demand financial reparation from them. What I want instead is for those Khmer Rouge leaders to tell me: What’s the matter? What are the reasons why the militiamen summoned my father from the canal, tied him up and took him away, never to be seen again? If those leaders do not answer or give unreasonable responses, I will never live in peace.

Public Information Room. Through the PIR, DC-Cam has been able to increase its public service and project activities. The services we provided to our over 450 visitors this quarter include family tracing inquiries, research, Khmer Rouge documentary shows, and introductions to DC-Cam projects. This quarter, we accommodated researchers from several Cambodian organizations (e.g., WMC, RAC, KID) and from other countries (e.g., Australia, the US, Slovakia, Italy, Thailand, Germany). We also provided resources and assistance on such topics as living conditions during Democratic Kampuchea, the development of freedom of speech in Cambodia since 1979, and a documentary being made on the regime for an Australian film company.

In addition, in December, we accommodated a study tour of post-graduate students from Tokyo University’s Department of Foreign Studies, during which we answered questions on the Khmer Rouge regime and its correlation to current conditions in Cambodia. We also hosted another student group called The World on Fire. It sought our opinions on the regime’s effects on current society (e.g., crime, violence, prostitution).

Documentary Film. In this quarter, we received a certification of Rachana Phat’s documentary The Khmer Rouge Rice Fields, with an acknowledgement that it was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In addition, we sent a DVD of the film to the War Crimes Museum of American University. They wrote to DC-Cam’s director that “it will be an excellent resource to educate our students about what happened in Cambodia.”

3.3       Media and Academic Coverage

This quarter, at least 168 news items on Khmer Rouge issues appeared in 42 local and international publications, and DC-Cam’s work was dominantly referenced. The local publications included Cambodge Soir, Cambodia Daily, Kanhchak Snagkum, The Khmer Conscience, Oudomkate Khmer, Phnom Penh Post, Rasmei Kampuchea Daily and The Voice of Khmer Youth. The international ones were ABC Online, ABC Radio Australia, AFP, The Age, AP, The Asahi Shimbun, The Australia News.Com.Au, Bangkok Post, BBC News, Belleville.com, The Boston Globe, DPA, Expatica, Financial Times, The Herald, IANS, Japantoday, Kyodo, Long Beach Press Telegram, The Los Angeles Times, New York Times, News Telegraph, The Philadelphia Enquirer, Reuters, Scotsman.com, The Star Online, The Sunday Star-Ledger, Taipei Times, TimeAsia, TimesDispatch.com, Timesonline, UN News Center, and WHOTV.Com. Some examples include:

§   Approval of the UN/Cambodia agreement and amended KR tribunal law

“Cambodian Parliament Opens, Set to Ratify Khmer Rouge Trial Bill,” Kyodo News, October 4, 2004.

“Khmer Rouge Tribunal Approved,” BBC News, October 4, 2004.

“Cambodia Amends Laws to Allow the Khmer Rouge Tribunal to Proceed,” AFP, October 5, 2004.

“Cambodia Plans to Try Khmer Rouge,” ABC Radio Australia, October 5, 2004.

Ker Munhit, “Cambodia’s Legislature Bars Government from Pardoning the Khmer Rouge,” AP, October 5, 2004.

Seth Mydans, “Lawmakers in Cambodia Vote to Try Khmer Rouge,” New York Times, October 5, 2004.

“US Hails Cambodia Ratification of War Crime Tribunal Pact,” ABC Radio Australia, October 5, 2004.

§   UN delegation visit to discuss the tribunal budget

Dara Rith, “France will Contribute to the Process of the Khmer Rouge Trial,” Rasmei Kampuchea Daily, November 7-8, 2004.

Corrine Purtill and Lee Berthiaume, “Anan: No Khmer Rouge Trial without Full Funding,” The Cambodia Daily, November 19, 2004.

Sam Rith and Richard Woodd, “Money Last Hurdle to KR Trial,” Phnom Penh Post, November 29-December 2, 2004.

“UN Team to Visit Cambodia to Wrap up Tribunal Budget,” Kyodo News, December 3, 2004.

“Funding Talks for UN War Crimes Tribunal Due to Start in Cambodia,” ABC Radio Australia, December 9, 2004.

“Cambodia, UN Agree on US $56.2 Million Budget for Khmer Rouge Tribunal,” AP, December 10, 2004.

“UN, Cambodia Agree on $56 Million Budget for Special Khmer Rouge Courts,” UN News Center, December 11, 2004.

“Cambodia Seeks More Funds from Japan for Khmer Rouge Trial,” Japantoday, December 16, 2004.

“Cambodian Researcher Seeks Ex-President Clinton’s Help for Khmer Rouge Tribunal,” AP, December 24, 2004.

Yun Samean, “No Mney Slated for KR Trial in 2005,” Cambodia Daily, December 24, 2004.

William Shaw, “DC-Cam Asks Clinton’s Help,” Cambodia Daily, December 31, 2004.

§     Alternative uses for tribunal funds

Yun Samean and Corrinne Putrill, “Ranariddh: KR Trial Money Could Help Poor,” Cambodia Daily, October 19, 2004.

Youk Chhang, “Financer le Tribunal des Khmer Rouges,” Cambodge Soir, October 27, 2004.

Youk Chhang, “Money Spent on Justice also Benefits the Poor,” Cambodia Daily, October 27, 2004.

Youk Chhang, “KR Tribunal Can Be a Spark for Prosperity,” Cambodia Daily, November 18, 2004.

Youk Chhang, “On the Issue of Funding for the Trial of Khmer Rouge Leaders: Looking to the Future as Well as the Past,” Rasmei Kampuchea Daily, December 4, 2004.

§    Tuol Sleng Museum renovations

“Upset over Renovations at Cambodia’s Infamous Khmer Rouge Torture Prison,” AFP, November 11, 2004.

Sotheara Chimm, “Tuol Sleng Should be Preserved for History,” Cambodia Daily, November 12, 2004.

Ethan Plaut, “Ministry Orders Halt to Tuol Sleng Renovations,” Cambodia Daily, November 23, 2004.

Duong Sokha, “Arret des Travaux de Renovation du Musee de Tuol Sleng,” Cambodia Soir, November 24, 2004.

• Other

“War : Pol Pot by Philip Short, Reviewed by Michael Sheridan,” Timesonline, October 24, 2004.

“Decades after the Khmer Rouge Cambodians Still Search for the Lost,” AFP, November 10, 2004.

Philippe Schwab, “Pin Yathay Traduit son Utopie Meurtriere a l’approche d’un Process, ” Cambodge Soir, November 21, 2004.

Kunthea, “Stilled Lives Reflecting the Life of Khmer Rouge Perpetrators,” Rasmei Kampuchea Daily, November 27, 2004.

“Report: Cambodians Who Hid in Jungle after Fleeing Khmer Rouge Reunited with Families,” AP, December 1, 2004.

“Long-lost Khmer Rouge Guerilla Hits 21^st Century,” Reuters, December 8, 2004.

Norng Utara, “Daughter of KR Leader Cannot Ignore the Past,” Cambodia Daily, December 13, 2004.

Rachana Phat, “Sar Patchana Isn’t the Only One without a Father,” Cambodia Daily, December 13, 2004.

Sayana Ser, “All Children Should Know Family History,” Cambodia Daily, December 14, 2004.

Nuon So Thero, “To RK Survivor, Pol Pot Anything But Good,”

Ros Sokhet, “Staff of Center Should not be Extreme,” Cambodia Daily, December 24, 2004.

Cambodia Daily, Decmeber 17, 2004.

“How the Khmer Rouge Escaped Trial, by Anuraj Mani Bhandu, Review of Getting Away with Genocide?” by Tom Fawthrop and Helen Jarvis,” Bangkok Post, December 25, 2004.

Pok Laksrasy, “Children: Tell Your Parents to be Good,” Cambodia Daily, December 31, 2004.

Luke Hunt, “Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge Lifts Veil of Secrecy Surrounding Decade of Vietnamese Military Occupation – Review of Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge,” Phnom Penh Post, December 31-January 13, 2004.

3.4     Cooperation with Overseas Organizations and NGOs

In addition to leading the formation of an Affinity Group of documentation centers worldwide (see Section 1.2.5), DC-Cam will host two or more interns from Thailand and/or Burma in 2005. In September, we met with representatives of several NGOs that are advocating for human tights in Burma (e.g., Burmese Women’s Union, Women’s Leagues of Burma, Shan Women’s Action Network) and now plan to host interns from these groups, who will come to DC-Cam to learn about our documentation, public outreach, and other activities.

In addition, we worked with two foreign filmmakers this quarter, assisting in the production of films on the Khmer Rouge. For the first (Out of the Poison Tree), we will continue to work with the California-based Good Film Works company, which is filming our magazine production activities and field trips. For the second, DC-Cam has been working with DRS FILM of the Netherlands and HealthNet International on a film called Deacon of Death. It is scheduled to be screened in May 2005 at the Chaktamouk Theatre in Phnom Penh.

We also worked with several NGOs this quarter:

• In December, DC-Cam researcher Em Sokhym spoke to about 50 students at a conference organized by Youth for Peace. Her topic was the impact of the Khmer Rouge on young people.
   

• Also in December, DC-Cam staff member Sochea Phann and a former Khmer Rouge medical cadre at Prey Sar answered questions about the importance of the KR tribunal at a radio program organized by the Women’s Media Center. We also helped locate the cadre who participated. People from all over the country called in to ask questions about the tribunal. In November and December, Mr. Phann participated in two similar radio programs. One was sponsored by the Cambodian Human Rights Center and included speakers from the Sam Rainsy and Khmer Democratic Parties. The other was sponsored by COMFREL; other speakers came from the Khmer Institute of Democracy and the Cambodian Defenders Project.
   

• In October, staff member Sorya Sim participated in an event sponsored by the Khmer Institute for Democracy entitled Survey on the KR Regime and Tribunal. He also answered questions on research methodology.
   

• As mentioned earlier, we helped Buddhist nun associations to develop a pre-trial outreach program, which will include a peace/dharma march of about 500 nuns from throughout the country. During our coordination meetings this quarter, we advanced planning for the march and discussed the possibility of publications on peacefulness and Buddhist teachings.
   

• We also worked with 11 Cambodian youth associations (together called the Student Council for Justice and Accountability, or SCJ) in developing programs to educate the public on the tribunal process, monitor the process, and prepare and disseminate surveys during and after the tribunal. Also planned is a six-month pilot project in 22 provinces. It will hold forums at which SCJ will show films on the Khmer Rouge, distribute such documents as the KR law, and hold public discussions at which data will be gathered. The participating associations are: Development for Democratic Culture, Students’ Movement for Democracy, Khmer Student Association, Khmer Youth Light for Development, Hope for Peace, Organization of Khmer Intellectuals for Democracy, Khmer Hire Association, Khmer Democratic Youth Association, Front of Khmer Students and Intellectuals, Youth Resource Development Program, and Khmer Youth and Social Development.
   

• As noted in Section 1.3.2, we have continued to work with TPO on identifying, counseling, and treating those who were traumatized by their experiences under the Khmer Rouge.
   

• Staff member Farina So and volunteer Isaac Tabor made several visits to a village that practices a Champa form of Islam (only about 35 communities in Cambodia belong to this group). In addition to producing an article for our monthly magazine, Mr. Tabor is planning health interventions and teaching English each week in the community. In addition, at the request of its residents, we have made over 100 copies of their religious texts (Rukun Islam and Rukun Imann).

3.5     Staff Development

Degree Studies. This quarter, Rachana Phat of our staff was admitted for graduate study at the Department of Anthropology and Archeology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. In addition, staff member Dara Vanthann completed his masters degree program at the University of Notre Dame and returned to Phnom Penh on January 4, 2005.

Research Training. In November, we held informal training for our staff, students (from the Royal University of Law and Economics, Institute of Foreign Language, Royal University of Management, Norton University) and NGOs (Alliance for Conflict Transformation, Cambodian Islamic Youth Association) in preparation for a new research project on minorities during Democratic Kampuchea. Participants exchanged views on research methodology and their field work experiences. The professionals attending gave advice on methodology and conducting field research, and helped our staff evaluate their research capabilities. Speakers included Dr. Ros Chantrabot (Royal Academy of Cambodia), Dr. Hean Sokhom (Center for Advanced Study), Dr. Steve Heder (University of London), Reach Sambath (former AFP journalist/professor of journalism at Royal University of Phnom Penh), Erik Davis (University of Chicago), and staff members Sorya Sim and Osman Ysa.

English Language Assessment Program. DC-Cam began this program last year to help staff develop their English language skills. In November, all DC-Cam staff took a multi-part test of their English reading, writing, and speaking skills, which was organized by the Australian Center for English. The staff will be re-assessed in November 2005 and their test scores compared with those from November 2004. The test scores will become part of our annual staff evaluations.

Prepared by

Sorya Sim and Wynne Cougill

Documentation Center of Cambodia

Searching for the Truth

DC-Cam ® 66 Preah Sihanouk Blvd. ® P.O. Box 1110 ® Phnom Penh ® Cambodia

Tel: (855-23) 211-875 ® Fax: (855-23) 210-358 ® Email: dccam@online.com.kh ® www.dccam.org