On October 6, 2011, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)'s Genocide Education Project conducted a public education forum in Svay Chek Commune, Rumduol District, Svay Rieng province. The forum was conducted at a compound of Por-serei pagoda. The participants attending the forum are approximately 95. Among these numbers, there are about 50 villagers and 45 students and teachers.
SVAY RIENG is a province in the southeast of Cambodia, bordered by Vietnam to the east and the south, and Prey Veng province to the west and the north. During Khmer Rouge times, Svay Rieng was in region 23 of the Eastern Zone and So Phim was its secretary. In 1978, most people in Svay Rieng were killed or evacuated to other places like Kampong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang province after So Phim was called a traitor of the regime. Cadres from the Southwest Zone, led by Ta Mok, took control. According to Renakse documents stored in the DC-Cam archives, 96,760 people in Svay Rieng province died during the Khmer Rouge regime. The DC-Cam mapping report shows 43 killing sites and 13 memorial sites.
The public education forum discussed the experiences of the people's lives under the KR and also encouraged 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 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).