Cambodia Genocide
Perpetrators
 When: April 17, 1975 – January 7, 1979
 Who: Khmer Rouge (Marxism/Maoism)
Pol Pot (1925-1998)
Secretary General
Khmer Rouge Co-Founder
Leader of genocide
Nuon Chea
(1926-present)
Prime Minister
Khieu Samphan
(1931-present)
President
Kaing Guek Eav
“Duch”
(1942-present)
Director of S-21
Ieng Sary (1925-2013)
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Khmer Rouge Co-Founder
Victims
 Dead: ~2 million people (25% of the total population)
 Causes: Execution, torture, starvation, exhaustion, disease
 Targets: Intellectuals, educated people, professionals,
monks, religious enthusiasts, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians,
ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Cambodians with
Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai ancestry.
 Refugees: Several hundred thousand
Tuol Sleng Prison (S21)
The Killing Fields
Summary of Genocide - Timeline
January 7, 1979: Under the
leadership of Khmer Rouge
defector, Hun Sen, Vietnamese
troops take control of Phnom
Penh and depose Pol Pot.
April 17, 1975: Khmer Rouge
overthrows King Sihanouk.
Phnom Penh’s 2.5 million
residents are evacuated and sent
to the countryside.
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1975
1975-1979: “Re-education” of the general
population, encouraging a communal lifestyle. Those
who had been exposed to the “outside world” or who
refused “re-education” were killed. All others were
sent to the rice fields.
1979: A genocide court
finds Pol Pot and Leng
Sary guilty of genocide.
Neither appear in court
nor serve any sentence.
What’s Happened Since?
 May 1993: Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh are elected
Co-Prime Ministers during a UN supervised election.
 1998: Civil war ends. Hun Sen becomes Prime Minister.
 2001: Cambodia’s National Assembly creates a court to try serious
crimes committed during the genocide.
 June 2007: Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
become functional and prepare to bring charges against Khmer
Rouge leaders.
 2007-Present: Only 3 Khmer Rouge leaders have been tried.
Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan were convicted of crimes against
humanity. Kaing Guek Eav was convicted of war crimes and crimes
against humanity. All were sentenced to life in prison.
Resources
 Human Rights Watch: hwww.hrw.org/asia/cambodia
 Why the world should not forget Khmer Rouge and the
killing fields of Cambodia:
www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/08/07/why-the-world-should-notforget-khmer-rouge-and-the-killing-fields-of-cambodia/
 Timeline: The History of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge:
www.pbs.org/pov/enemies/photo_gallery_timeline.php#.VN0fTvnF98E
 “The Killing Fields” the movie: www.youtube.com/watch?v=92zK2w78J-c