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Our History
Since its inception, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) has
been at the forefront of documenting the myriad crimes and atrocities
of the Khmer Rouge era. DC-Cam was founded after the U.S. Congress
passed the
Cambodian Genocide Justice Act
in April 1994, which was signed into law by President Clinton. That
legislation established the
Office of Cambodian Genocide Investigations
in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific
Affairs in July 1994, which was charged with investigating the
atrocities of the Khmer Rouge period (1975-1979).
In January 1995 and June 1997, the Office announced grants to Yale
University, enabling Yale's
Cambodian Genocide Program
(CGP) to conduct research, training and
documentation on the Khmer Rouge regime. The CGP was to assemble
evidence concerning the leadership of Democratic Kampuchea (DK) and to
determine whether the DK regime violated international criminal laws
against genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The CGP is
an academic program and is not equipped to conduct a legal trial of
the Khmer Rouge leaders. It had three main objectives: 1) to prepare a
documentation survey and index, 2) to undertake historiographical
research, and 3) to provide legal training. The grant expired on
December 31, 1996.
In pursuit of these objectives, the CGP founded DC-Cam as a field
office in Phnom Penh in January 1995 under the leadership of its
Program Officer, Mr. Youk Chhang, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge’s
“killing fields.”
DC-Cam became an independent Cambodian research institute on January
1, 1997.
Since that time, it has continued its extensive research and
documentation activities. DC-Cam is
not a for-profit, governmental or
political organization, and we are not a judicial body. We receive our
funding from a wide range of international sources, both private and
government (see
donors
list). DC-Cam is acknowledged as an independent and nonpartisan
institute in Cambodia, and we disseminate information on the Khmer
Rouge regime based on our impartial inquiry into facts and history.
The Center continues to serve as a major source of information about
this tragic period of human history for academics, lawyers, activists
and the general public. DC-Cam is now operated entirely by Cambodians
with support from scholars and experts in the USA, Europe, and Asia.
Our Mission
DC-Cam has two main objectives. The first is to record and preserve
the history of the Khmer Rouge regime for future generations. The
second is to compile and organize information that can serve as
potential evidence in a legal accounting for the crimes of the Khmer
Rouge. These objectives represent our promotion of memory and
justice, both of which are critical foundations for the rule of
law and genuine national reconciliation in Cambodia.
To accomplish these objectives, DC-Cam carries out ongoing research to
compile and analyze primary documentary materials collected through
various means (including fact-finding missions abroad), attempting to
understand how they fit into the overall historical context of the
Khmer Rouge period. A society cannot know itself if it does not have
an accurate memory of its own history. Toward this end, DC-Cam is
working to reconstruct Cambodia’s modern history, much of which has
been obscured by the flames of war and genocide.
We have catalogued approximately 155,000 pages of primary Khmer Rouge
documents and more than 6,000 photographs. The bulk of DC-Cam's
archives
have not yet been catalogued, including more than 400,000 additional
pages of documents and a wide array of other types of materials. By
collecting, preserving and analyzing these individual pieces of
historical memory, DC-Cam endeavors to help Cambodians understand the
country’s difficult journey through the twentieth century. As a
permanent institute
for the study of Cambodia’s history, DC-Cam stands poised to assist
the nation in guiding the way toward a more peaceful and prosperous
tomorrow.
In addition, DC-Cam is constantly cataloguing the materials gathered
through various means and entering them into computer databases to
produce annotated indexes to the archive's contents. Through this
process, in cooperation with its international partners, DC-Cam has
assembled extensive bibliographic, biographic, photographic and
geographic databases (for instance, we have located and mapped
189 prisons,
19,403 mass graves, and 80 genocide memorials throughout Cambodia)
of information related to Khmer Rouge
abuses. This provides legal scholars, investigators, researchers and
historians with valuable tools to understand precisely who did what to
whom, when, where and how, and sometimes, even why. This also allows
Cambodians to know their own history and to come to terms with it.
Based principally on their examination of DC-Cam holdings, in February
1999 the UN Group of Experts found a prima facie case against
certain former Khmer Rouge leaders for war crimes, genocide and other
crimes against humanity. DC-Cam also expects to be called upon as the
principal source of evidentiary materials for the Khmer Rouge
tribunal.
A memorandum
from the United Nations, A/59/432 of 12 October 2004 stated: “It is
expected that the Chambers will rely heavily on documentary evidence.
Some 200,000 pages of documentary evidence are expected to be
examined. The bulk of that documentation is held by the Documentation
Centre of Cambodia, an NGO dedicated to research and preservation of
documentation on crimes perpetrated during the period of Democratic
Kampuchea.”
Successfully achieving our two primary objectives of memory and
justice will help build a foundation for the rule of law and
genuine national reconciliation in Cambodia. We will continue to
pursue these objectives in several ways. First, we will sustain and
then accelerate our rate of cataloguing the primary materials relating
to the Khmer Rouge regime. Second, we will expand the scope of the
analysis of these primary materials (this will be done by individual
scholars from outside DC-Cam), focusing on topic areas relevant to
accountability and finding the truth. Third, we have initiated a
number of new projects (e.g., the development of a textbook on
Democratic Kampuchea and a project to bring villagers nationwide to
attend trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders) to keep alive the memory
of Cambodia’s genocide.
DC-Cam's quest for memory and justice has more to do with the future
than with the past. It is about the struggle for truth in the face of
an overwhelming power that virtually destroyed our society, a power
that continues in more subtle ways to threaten our aspirations for a
peaceful future. The violence of that power shattered Cambodian
society and scattered the Cambodian people across the planet in a
terrible diaspora. But no matter how far or near to the homeland, and
whether they are survivors or the new generation born after the
overthrow of Pol Pot, all Cambodians still suffer from a profound
sense of dislocation. This dislocation is rooted in a loss deeper than
material deprivation or personal bereavement. It is a loss that can
never be recovered, and thus full healing of the wounds of genocide
will require that something new be built to take the place of that
which has been lost. By reconstructing a historical narrative of what
happened to Cambodia, and by striving for justice where that is an
appropriate remedy, we aim to lay a foundation upon which all
Cambodians can find firm footing in moving toward a better future.
Reconciliation in Cambodia will happen one heart at a time. Cambodians
cannot forgive one another until they know who to forgive, and for
what. DC-Cam's focus on memory and justice seeks to assist Cambodians
in discovering the truths upon which a genuine national reconciliation
depends.
Our Organization
DC-Cam’s
staff
is entirely Cambodian. It is supervised by a
Board of Directors
composed of 10 Cambodian experts and is advised by a 15‑member board
of
The Associate Advisors
who are specialists on Cambodia. DC-Cam also relies heavily on
interns, visiting scholars and volunteers.
Finally, because of the highly technical nature of many of our
activities, we occasionally retain the services of professional
consultants in a variety of disciplines, such as international law,
forensics, and remote sensing.
Access to DC-Cam Archives
DC-Cam is the
world’s largest repository of printed documents and other original
documentary materials relating to
the DK regime. The materials in our archives are consequently of the
utmost historical interest and may serve as important evidentiary
materials in any accountability process relating to the DK regime. To
disseminate the truth about the DK period and to promote lawful
accountability and national reconciliation, it is imperative that our
materials be made available to historians, judicial officials, and
other interested members of the public. However, it is equally
important for our materials to be protected from physical decay,
corruption, and other security hazards.
We have thus
formulated
procedures for
managing access to our archives both before and during the prospective
trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders. They cover authorization for
those seeking access to our documents, photocopying, viewing
originals, and document custody, care, and return. The procedures
have been submitted to the Royal Government and the United Nations. In
addition, we have developed a set of regulations
for those wishing to view documents in our
Public Information Room.
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