THE CAMBODIA GENOCIDE Julius Lizzy

BACKGROUND  Cambodian Genocide refers to the attempt of Khmer Rouge Pol Pot to nationalize and centralize the peasant farming society.  25% of Cambodia's population was destroyed in three years  Khmer Rouge began to start the genocide in 1975

WHY?  The Khmer Rouges believed that the citizens of Cambodia were tainted by the surrounding countries. A big one was the Wests capitalist ideas  Executed the educated such as lawyers, doctors, military and police. Religious groups such as Christians, Buddhist, and Muslims were also heavily targeted  Wanted to re-educate the citizens so they were split up by how much the Rouge trusted them. There was “old citizens”, “new citizens”, “deportees”, “candidates”, then “full rights citizens”. If refused you will be killed.

WHAT HAPPENED?  The Khmer Rouge placed people in communes or collective living arrangements to enact “re-education” programs to promote a collective lifestyle.  People were divided into categories based on what the Khmer Rouge had in mind about them. Those loyal to the Khmer were called “old citizens” those who were Pro-West were called “new citizens”. They could move up to the next title called “deportees” then “candidates” to “full rights citizens” but most never advanced. Those who refused were killed in the “killing fields”.

 One of the most killing fields is Choeung Ek, where 8,000 human skulls lay today  This is where he Khmer Rouge practiced during the genocide  These fields are graves for nearly 20,000 Cambodians, either tortured to death or shot

 Used acid and plyers to take apart bodies, some guards would eat organs of the people (females)  Would cut the prisoners and pour acid into the wounds and have people watch  If you wouldn’t answer questions to the guards they would hang the prisoners by a hook and cut out major organs as she hangs  Placed in boiling water, cripple a person by kicking them with boots with spikes on them, place leeches on the prisoners as they suck the blood out  What they did with babies was bash them against trees as they babies family would watch unable to do something about it

COMING TO AN END  Khmer Rouge has support from the Chinese and United States  In 1991 that alliance had ended though a ceasefire agreement  The Khmer Rouge was overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1977, and they took control of everything  Some fled to Thailand, and others stayed to fight causing more deaths  The Khmer Rouges splinter group captured Pol Pot and put him under house arrest and he dies in his sleep April 15, 1998

 Peoples Revolutionary Tribunal that was led my the Vietnamese put Pol Pot on trial for the crime of genocide, but it wasn’t legitimate because there was no legal counsel, and no defendants  Rebuilding Cambodia after was very hard because all the doctors, teachers, engineers or any other professional was killed  People still face poverty today  2003 the government agreed to establish a UN- backed tribunal to prosecute everyone who was involved  People today struggle with mental illnesses form living through that, 40,000 are amputees cause of landmines, and families still haven't reunited yet  Almost 3,300,000 men, women, and children were murdered

 We need to learn from our mistakes, making sure they don’t happen. Look at the warning signs to stop it before it happens. We all need to support each other to stop. Enough is enough. – Lizzy  We lost them before, forgetting about them now is letting them die a second time. Remember. -Julius

WORKS CITED  conflicts/cambodian-genocide conflicts/cambodian-genocide   cambodia.html cambodia.html   of-torture of-torture  genocide/ genocide/