The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), June 14, 2023, organized a study tour for 150 students from HUN Sen Pdao Chum high school, Chorng Prey district, Kampong Cham province to learn and remember the tragedy, the national liberation from the genocidal regime, and the trial of crimes committed during that brutal regime.
Vin Vathana, a grade 11th student of Hun Sen Pdao Chum High School, said that the study tour organized by the Khmer Rouge tribunal really made him and other youth very knowledgeable on the history of the Pol Pot genocidal regime. According to Vathana, he learnt not in detail about what had happened in the brutal regime from his family, reading books and on social media. He just knew only that in the regime the Cambodians lived in the most miserable conditions, and some were prosecuted, but he did not know the reasons to cause that. Vadhana added that it is very important to get a clear knowledge of the brutal regime because he said it could contribute to preventing the resurgence of the brutal regime.
Another student, Mr. Chanthea Dara, also a grade 11th student, said that today's study tour, he learned a lot about the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge against the Cambodian. He said that before he came to visit today, he also got some knowledge from his family and on social media about the Khmer Rouge regime, stating that during the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodians were forced to work overtime, malnourished, tortured and killed. For Dara, it is imperative that the younger generation need to learn the history of Cambodia in order to prevent genocide from happening again.
The students who participated in this study tour program also praised and appreciated the win-win policy of the Royal Government of Cambodia, which led the country to bring peace and social stability. And they did not forget to thank the ECCC for organizing the program so that they could understand, visit the crime scene left over from the Khmer Rouge regime and see the development in Phnom Penh today.
During today's study tour, all students went to visit Win Win Memorial, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Choeung Ek Genocide Center, and got a presentation by an official from the Khmer Rouge Tribunal on the achievements of the trial on the former senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime.
The ECCC organizes weekly study tour programs for students, youth, and the public to promote remembrance and participation in preventing the atrocities such the Khmer Rouge regime.
From 2009 to 2023, more than half a million national and international public participated in the outreach study tour program under the coordination by the Public Affairs Section of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.
