Genocide Watch

Burying Asia's savage past
The Economist print edition
June 25, 2009

For several weeks a neat former schoolteacher has sat in a Phnom Penh dock, detailing before the tribunal how meticulously he used to carry out the orders of his bosses. As a child, he said by way of clarification, he had always been "a well-disciplined boy, who respected the teachers and did good deeds". This is Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, former commandant of Tuol Sleng, a Khmer Rouge torture-centre and prison, which 14,000 men, women and children entered but only a dozen survived. Duch has admitted blame for the horrors at Tuol Sleng. According to the New York Times, he couldn't bear to hear the late Pol Pot claim that Tuol Sleng was a fabrication of his enemies. He thus seems certain to be the first person convicted for playing a part in Khmer Rouge atrocities from 1975-79 that killed up to 2m Cambodians. (Read More)

Cotler urges changing focus on Teheran
By Haviv Rettig Gur, The Jerusalem Post
June 16, 2009

The persistent focus by Israeli leaders and others on Iran's nuclear program is obscuring the true source of the danger from the Iranian regime, according to Canadian MP and human rights law scholar Irwin Cotler - that it actively incites to genocide.

"The focus has been only on the nuclear," Cotler said Monday in a conversation with The Jerusalem Post. While the regime's access to nuclear weapons "is clearly an existential concern," it is the regime's incitement to genocide that makes it so.

"Ignoring the genocidal [aspect of Iranian policy] ends up sanitizing it and undercutting the justification for [concern about] the nuclear issue," Cotler said. (Read more.)

Sri Lanka says war over, rebel leader killed
RAVI NESSMAN, The Associated Press
May 18, 2009

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka-- Sri Lanka declared Monday it had crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels, killing their chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and ending his three-decade quest for an independent homeland for minority Tamils.

State television broke into its regular programming to announce Prabhakaran's death, and the government information department sent a text message to cell phones across the country confirming he was killed along with top deputies, Soosai and Pottu Amman.

The announcement sparked mass celebrations around the country, and people poured into the streets of Colombo dancing and singing. (Read more)

Sri Lanka celebrates rebels' defeat
The Associated Press
May 17, 2009

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka-- The Tamil Tiger rebels admitted defeat in their 25-year-old war with the Sri Lankan government Sunday, offering to lay down their guns as government forces swept across their last strongholds in the northeast. (Read more)

First Khmer Rouge trial focuses on torture house

By Seth Mydans, The New York Times
March 31, 2009

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia-- Testimony opened Monday at the first trial of a Khmer Rouge official, with a detailed description of the internal workings and methods of interrogation in the regime's central torture house.

In statements included in a long indictment read by court officials, the defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, admitted ordering and taking part in systematic torture that sometimes continued for days.

In his statements, made during pretrial investigations, he said he was working on orders from the top Khmer Rouge leadership, an assertion that appeared to implicate four other defendants who are awaiting trial.

Thirty years after the regime was deposed, Duch is the first person to take the stand and answer for one of the most horrific episodes of mass killing in the past century, in which 1.7 million people are estimated to have died from 1975 to '79 of starvation, overwork, disease or execution (Read more).

Apology offered at Khmer Rouge trial

By Seth Mydans, The New York Times
April 1, 2009

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia-- The commandant of the most prominent Khmer Rouge torture house apologized in court Tuesday for atrocities he had committed but said that he had feared for his own life and that he was being made a scapegoat for others.

"I would like to express my regret and heartfelt sorrow," said the commandant, Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who is the first defendant in a trial involving the deaths of 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979 from starvation, overwork and disease, as well as torture and execution.

"My current plea is that I would like you to please leave an open window for me to seek forgiveness," said Duch, who is 66. One of five defendants in the United Nations-backed trial, he faces a possible life sentence on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes as well as homicide and torture.

He concluded his 18-minute address by presenting the court with a strange pencil sketch of men at desks and piles of skulls that he said explained the workings of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy (Read more).

Khmer Rouge Tribunal- Duch's Hearing: A turning point for Cambodia

By Youk Chhang, Director of Documentation Center of Cambodia

March 30, 2009

Today is a turning point for Cambodia. Today, after 30 years of waiting, Cambodians have taken a historical step.  Through legal means, we are challenging impunity and moving ahead in our long journey for genocide justice. This journey is essential for us to come together as a nation.  The Khmer Rouge trials are not only about justice; they are also about the Memory of Our Nation.

Duch's hearing today offers a chance for survivors and Cambodians born after the Khmer Rouge period to learn about that terrible period in our country's history from those who were directly involved in it.  There may be no single answer to what really happened. However, we all have the obligation to participate in the search for truth.  Together, we can build a better understanding of our common past (Read more).

1. Classification
2. Symbolization
3. Dehumanization
4. Organization
5. Polarization
6. Preparation
7. Extermination
8. Denial