On February 13, 2014, the Cambodia Tribunal Monitor (CTM) Project of the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) is conducting a workshop at Chea Sim University of Kamchaymea, Kampong Cham province. The workshop focus on the history of Democratic Kampuchea, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and the resources provided by the CTM website. The workshop conducted from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. with the participation of 170 students. To date, the CTM team has successfully conducted the workshop at more than 40 universities, reaching almost 8,000 students.

Almost three decades after the collapse of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979), a hybrid tribunal known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) was established by the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations to address the serious human rights violations and crimes committed under the DK regime. The ECCC continues to prosecute the senior leaders of the DK regime and is helping Cambodians to achieve a measure of reconciliation. Yet, judicial measures alone cannot bring justice to the victims. There is a need to update the public and especially students—who will be the future leaders of this country—on Khmer Rouge history and the legal process for prosecuting the senior leaders most responsible for the horrors committed under the regime.

Kampong Cham province, during the Khmer Rouge regime, was administratively divided into two parts by the Mekong River. Districts at east of the river were placed under Eastern Zone and administered by So Phim, while the districts at west of the river were positioned in Northern Zone and controlled by Kuy Thuon, and later Ke Pok and finally Kong Chap. Some parts of Kampong Cham province were used by the Khmer Rouge communists as revolutionary bases in late 1960s and early 1970s and to stage war against the government of Khmer Republic. In 1977, the Central Committee of the Khmer Rouge regime began to lost trust on cadres from the Eastern Zone as tension with Vietnam at the borders deteriorated. Cadres from that Zone were accused of associating with Vietnamese soldiers in order to overthrow the Khmer Rouge regime. As a result, thousands of cadres and soldiers from Eastern Zone were purged. Knowing this, So Phim committed suicide in May 1978 before he reached Phnom Penh on the invitation of Pol Pot.

With this important site, the CTM hopes to use this workshop as a platform for disseminating information on the history of the Khmer Rouge, the trials of Khmer Rouge leaders, and research tools available for accessing these important topics. It is through this awareness and greater access to resources that the CTM Project hopes to preserve memory and enhance the access to (and understanding of) justice.