_12Jan2010-1.jpg)
Click on the announcement in Khmer to zoom in_12Jan2010-2.jpg)
We, the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia (“AKRV” or “AKRVC”), are survivors of the Cambodian killing fields (April 1975—January 1979) who are joined in our fellowship of suffering, in our demand for justice, and in our work for a just peace. In coming together, we become stronger and we are shaping our past for our future.
CJR National Conference on Victims’ Participation: MOVING FORWARD, TOGETHER – Transforming Killing Fields to Healing, Living Fields at Pannasastra University, 11 Dec. 2009. AKRVC members raising their hands in response to query “who have lost father, mother, husband, or wife during the KR years?”
We are widows and orphans, former child soldiers and former prisoners; we are hard-working farmers and middle-class city-dwellers; we are well-known actresses, playwrights, journalists, authors; we are teachers, translators, security guards, taxi drivers. Some of us reside in the United States, France, Australia or another country, but the majority of us are from all the provinces and towns of Cambodia. Some of us are recognized civil parties to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; others are still yet civil party applicants; some may become witnesses. While some of us are neither of these.
We, the AKRVC, would like to acknowledge the technical assistance provided by the Center for Justice & Reconciliation in registering us as an association and in facilitating our involvement (directly or indirectly) in the ECCC. Until our website is fully functioning (and also in the Khmer language), if you would like to become a AKRVC member or an ECCC civil party, please visit www.cjr-cambodia.org or contact Mr. SOK Leang at sokleang@cjr-cambodia.org or Ms. MORM Sokly (AKRVC president, also playwright and actress of Breaking the Silence, inter alia) at president@akrvc.org, Ms. Theary C. SENG at thearyseng@akrvc.org, a member of and founding advisor to the AKRVC and representative of the Civil Party of Orphans Class.
Many of us came together as a result of the Justice & Reconciliation public forums facilitated by Ms. Theary beginning in 2006 till 2009 and Civil Party Seminars facilitated by both Mr. Leang and Ms. Theary beginning in 2007 till 2009—engaging victims (and perpetrators) from all 24 provinces of Cambodia and generously funded by Diakonia, German Development Service (DED) and The MacArthur Foundation.
The Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia (AKRVC) is independent of any political or religious affiliation and is officially registered with the Ministry of Interior (No. 2880 SCN, 24 December 2009), the second victims’ association to be registered and the first to be actively functioning in Cambodia.
(We have worked with the only other MOI-registered victims’ association based in France and hope to continue working and coordinating activities with them, as well as with any other groups and associations to be registered. We believe in inclusiveness and the unity of our voices as victims and are deeply distressed and saddened by the ‘competition’ or ‘hierarchy of victims’ and the ‘Super-Victim’ status we have encountered, and work to strongly dissuade this unproductive mentality.)
We have each other. We have hope.
CJR National Conference on Victims’ Participation: MOVING FORWARD, TOGETHER – Transforming Killing Fields to Healing, Living Fields at Pannasastra University, 11 Dec. 2009. AKRVC members raising their hands in response to query “who have lost father, mother, husband, or wife during the KR years?”
We are widows and orphans, former child soldiers and former prisoners; we are hard-working farmers and middle-class city-dwellers; we are well-known actresses, playwrights, journalists, authors; we are teachers, translators, security guards, taxi drivers. Some of us reside in the United States, France, Australia or another country, but the majority of us are from all the provinces and towns of Cambodia. Some of us are recognized civil parties to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; others are still yet civil party applicants; some may become witnesses. While some of us are neither of these.
We, the AKRVC, would like to acknowledge the technical assistance provided by the Center for Justice & Reconciliation in registering us as an association and in facilitating our involvement (directly or indirectly) in the ECCC. Until our website is fully functioning (and also in the Khmer language), if you would like to become a AKRVC member or an ECCC civil party, please visit www.cjr-cambodia.org or contact Mr. SOK Leang at sokleang@cjr-cambodia.org or Ms. MORM Sokly (AKRVC president, also playwright and actress of Breaking the Silence, inter alia) at president@akrvc.org, Ms. Theary C. SENG at thearyseng@akrvc.org, a member of and founding advisor to the AKRVC and representative of the Civil Party of Orphans Class.
Many of us came together as a result of the Justice & Reconciliation public forums facilitated by Ms. Theary beginning in 2006 till 2009 and Civil Party Seminars facilitated by both Mr. Leang and Ms. Theary beginning in 2007 till 2009—engaging victims (and perpetrators) from all 24 provinces of Cambodia and generously funded by Diakonia, German Development Service (DED) and The MacArthur Foundation.
The Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia (AKRVC) is independent of any political or religious affiliation and is officially registered with the Ministry of Interior (No. 2880 SCN, 24 December 2009), the second victims’ association to be registered and the first to be actively functioning in Cambodia.
(We have worked with the only other MOI-registered victims’ association based in France and hope to continue working and coordinating activities with them, as well as with any other groups and associations to be registered. We believe in inclusiveness and the unity of our voices as victims and are deeply distressed and saddened by the ‘competition’ or ‘hierarchy of victims’ and the ‘Super-Victim’ status we have encountered, and work to strongly dissuade this unproductive mentality.)
………
For more information and photos, please visit us at:
For more information and photos, please visit us at:
No comments:
Post a Comment