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In 2006, the ICfC and partner organization the Center for Social Development (CSD), a Phnom Penh-based NGO, co-organized three public forums to inspire public debate on issues central to reconciliation in Cambodia. The discussion topics for these events were:
- What are your hopes, needs, and fears for the upcoming Khmer Rouge tribunal (KRT)?
- If the tribunal does not meet all of your hopes and needs, is it possible to work within the community to get what you need? How might that happen?
- To what extent do Cambodia’s youth understand and accept the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge ("KR") years? Should they be taught about this? If so, how?
The first forum was held in Pailin, a city in Northwestern Cambodia, known as a base of Khmer Rouge leadership and ideas. The second forum was held in Kampot and brought lower ranking, more integrated Khmer Rouge participants together with survivors and other groups. This forum focused more closely on discussing hopes and needs for the Tribunal and how these impact perceptions of reconciliation. In attendance at the forum to help field questions were representatives from the KRT and former United States Ambassador for War Crimes, David Scheffer.
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The Youth Education, Community Development (YECD) Project works on issues of prejudice, identity and sympathy under the belief that this may address some of the fears and needs expressed about the KRT.
ICfC guides train Cambodian university students and young NGO staff members to facilitate dialogues on issues related to justice and historical conciliation. These young leaders use their training to engage villagers in dialogues about the expectations of the KRT as well as the younger generation’s role in understanding and sympathizing with the recent violent history. Dialogue participants from the community include: teachers, members of the pagoda committees, students, and elder residents. The exercises focus on sympathy towards alternative historical perspectives. At the same time, they draw out the multiple identities that Cambodians have, resulting from propaganda victimization, nationalism, and prejudice.
We hope this project will spark discussion and new ideas of what might work to diffuse potential intra-community ethnic conflict.
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