On September 6, 2011, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)'s Genocide Education Project conducted a public education forum in Reaksmei Commune, Rovieng District, Preah Vihear province. The forum was conducted at a compound of Raksmei Rikreay secondary school. The participants attending the forum are approximately 235. Among these numbers, there are 200 villagers, 15 students and 20 teachers.

 

PREAH VIHEAR is one of the nine provinces that is part of the Tonle Sap biosphere reserve and is named after the temple of Prasat Preah Vihear. Preah Vihear. The province is subdivided into 7 communes. There are many famous temples built between 936 and 1200s. In the Khmer Rouge period, Preah Vihear was not located in any zones or regions, but was an autonomous region that reported directly to the Central Committee, like Siem Reap-Oddar Meanchey and Kampong Som. According to the 1998 census of Cambodia, it had a population of 26,552 persons.

 

The public education forum discusses the experiences of the people's lives under the KR and 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 distributed 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 taught 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