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U.S.
Establishes $2 million Endowment
for the
Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)
On August 30,
2005, Youk Chhang, Director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia
(DC-Cam), signed an agreement with the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) establishing a permanent Endowment
for the Center. The Endowment is a $2 million gift from the American
people to allow DC-Cam to maintain its efforts promoting historical
awareness and accountability for crimes committed during the Khmer
Rouge era.
Mark Storella,
U.S. Charge d'Affaires a.i., stated during the ceremony that “the
Endowment provides further evidence of the U.S. government's
longstanding commitment to DC-Cam.” Under the Endowment agreement,
DC-Cam will receive annual earnings from the $2 million principal
invested. The Center will use those earnings to support its core
activities and to fund specified program costs. By providing DC-Cam
with a predictable source of annual income, the Endowment will
also help DC-Cam mobilize additional resources from other donors and
benefactors.
As a witness
to the signing ceremony Jonathan Addleton, USAID Mission Director,
stated that “of all the civil society organizations supported by USAID,
DC-Cam is one that we envision will remain serving forthcoming
generations twenty, fifty or one-hundred years into the future. We
sincerely hope that this Endowment will help DC-Cam obtain their
vision of a permanent center.” Youk Chhang said: “DC-Cam, just like
the U.S.-funded national road number 4, has been serving many hundreds
of thousands of people since it was first established and built.
DC-Cam is a place that the genocide survivors and their children’s
children can re-connect the past and move on with their life into a
better future.”
DC-Cam is an
independent research institute that has its origins in the Cambodian
Genocide Program created at Yale University in 1994 with a grant from
the U.S. Department of State. DC-Cam aims to serve as a permanent
resource providing the public with a better historical understanding
of the Khmer Rouge regime. It also serves as a resource
for Cambodians and others who may wish to pursue legal redress for
genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated under the
Democratic Kampuchea regime from 1975-79. DC-Cam catalogues public
documents; interviews former Khmer Rouge functionaries; maps mass
graves; produces the magazine Searching for the Truth; maintains a
library, audio-visual studios, printing house and exhibition hall;
manages a training institute; and provides psycho-social assistance to
those victims who suffered torture under the Khmer Rouge regime
through the Victims of Torture Project.
Documentation Center of Cambodia's director, Youk Chhang, explains to
U.S. Ambassador
Joseph Adamo Mussomeli, at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Friday,
23 September, 2005. Photo by Heng Sinith.
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