About 150 students from Hun Sen Chouk high school, Chouk district, Kampot province participated in the outreach study tour organized by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on 04 October 2023 to learn about Cambodian history related to Democratic Kampuchea Regime at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Win-Win Memorial.
The students, in the former S-21 Khmer Rouge Security Centre premise, were welcomed and presented by a Public Affairs Officer of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal on the achievement of the ECCC obtained from the trials and the residual functions that the Chamber is currently conducting. Then, the students continued their study tour to learn the Cambodian history in Win-Win Memorial.
Mr. Loch Kimsay, a teacher who leads the group on this study tour, said that this study tour is an important part for the students to understand the history, especially the Democratic Kampuchea regime, the trial of the Khmer Rouge leaders and to let the students know that Cambodia successfully convicted the Khmer Rouge leader as a psychological compensation to his grandparents who were the victims of the regime. He added that the study tour to the Win-Win Memorial is also a part of the students to understand the origins of the Khmer Rouge regime, the struggle of the leaders to liberate the country from this wall-less prison and students can also share what they saw and know today to other friends, especially parents, grandparents who have never visited the Memorial.
Kimsay also appreciated the Win-Win policy of the Royal Government of Cambodia, which led the country to bring peace and social stability. He also thanks the ECCC for organizing the program so that youth could understand, visit the crime scenes left over from the Khmer Rouge regime and see the development in Phnom Penh today.
The weekly ECCC outreach study tour, coordinated and lead by the Public Affairs Section is conducted for students, young people, and the public seeks to raise awareness about the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime. AS more than 600,000 members of the national and international public have taken part in outreach study tours since 2009 until the present day, 2023, with the Public Affairs Section of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal coordinating them.
Photo by: Kun Chenda and Student