On July 23, 2011, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)'s Genocide Education Project conducted a public education forum in Veal Meas village, Veal Renh Commune,  Prey Nob District, Preah Sihanouk province. The forum was conducted at a compound of Veal Meas pagoda. The participants attending the forum are approximately 230. Among these numbers, there are 120 villagers, 78 students, seven teachers, 25 nuns and 15 monks.

 

SIHANOUK VILLE (KAMPONG SOM) is a province in southern Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand. The province is named after King Father Norodom Sihanouk and developed around the construction of Sihanouk Ville Port, built in June 1955. Sihanouk Ville was location of the last official battle of the United States army in the Vietnam War, although the incident took place outside Vietnam. It is known as the Mayaguez incident on May 12–15, 1975 between the US forces and the Khmer Rouge. During the Khmer Rouge regime, Kampong Som was organized separately. Like Siem Reap-Oddar Meanchey region (region 106) and the Preah Vihear region (region 103), Kampong Som was permitted to report directly to the Central committee. On December 22, 2008, King Norodom Sihamoni signed a Royal Decree that changed the municipality of Sihanouk Ville into a province.

 

The public education forum will discuss the experiences of the people's lives under the KR and will also encourage the younger and the older generations to discuss the importance of genocide education and survivors to share their real life experiences under the KR. The project's team members will distribute copies of the textbook "A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979)" and discuss one chapter from it. Other materials for distribution include the magazine Searching for the Truth and booklets on Khmer Rouge tribunal Cases 001 and 002. During the forum, one of the team members will teach a chapter from DK history book.

 

The forum is being held in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and funded by The Asia Foundation (TAF), Phnom Penh, Cambodia with the core supports from the Swedish International Agency for Development (Sida) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

For more information, please contact:

Ser Sayana <truthsayana.s@dccam.org> Cell: 092 763 272