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| The Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia—the first association based in Cambodia to be registered with the Ministry of Interior and the first to be recognized by the ECCC Victims Support Section and independent of any political or religious affiliation—is a network of survivors of the 1975-79 killing fields who are joined in the fellowship of suffering, in the demand for justice, and in the work for a just peace. The members of the Victims Association are from overseas and spread across the provinces and capital of Cambodia, coming together as a result of the public forums conducted by its Founder, and now its president Ms. Theary C. SENG since 2007. They include widows and orphans; former child soldiers and former prisoners; hard-working farmers and middle-class city-dwellers; well-known actresses playwrights, authors and journalists; as well as teachers, translators, security guards, taxi drivers, inter alia. Among the other members of the Victims Association is the Civil Parties of Orphans Class, a special grouping pre-dating the AKRVC founding when introduced officially in the Pre-Trial Chamber hearing of Nuon Chea in Feb. 2008, and since officially recognized by the ECCC Victims Support Section and a party to the Extraordinary Chambers Case File No. 002 against the senior Khmer Rouge leaders. | ||||
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Poem: People's lives on 17th Apr under Pol Pot Regime
June 23-27 Interviews:BBC with AKRVC president Theary Seng (June 23 morning); BBC with ARKVC member Phirun Peou (June 23 afternoon); Hello VOA guests AKRVC president Theary Seng and founding member LY Monysak (June 23); MSNBC interview of AKRVC president Theary Seng (June 24); AP filming with AKRVC president (June 24 morning); AP filming with AKRVC Phirun Peou (June 24 afternoon). Hello VOA special guest AKRVC Deputy President Chey Theara (Monday, June 27). Some recent activities in June 2011:In addition to the many written/film interviews given by AKRVC President Theary Seng, other AKRVC officers and members also gave interviews, e.g. prolific author/AKRVC treasurer Oum Suphany were interviewed on film by AFP (AKRVC Phnom Penh office, 13 June 2011), Phirun Peou and Dr. Sorpong Peou gave many interviews including a long profile in The Phnom Penh Post, AKRVC Deputy President Chey Theara and member Ly Monysak for Swiss television at Tuol Sleng (18 June 2011), Phirun Peou for AP filming (24 June 2011). . . AKRVC President Theary Seng met over dinner with a few AKRVC officers/members to gauge their thoughts regarding Cases 003 and 004 (Phnom Penh, 13 June 2011). . . . Members of the Civil Parties of Orphans Class met with their lawyers in seminar in Kampong Som, 18 June 2011. . . . Open Response: Open Response to UN Headquarters’ re Public Statement on KRT Published in The Phnom Penh Post on 16 June 2011 Press Release: AKRVC Open Letter to Victims (of Meas Mut, Sou Met, Im Chaem, Ta Tith, Ta An) and Civil Party Lawyers - Crime Sites of Case 004 Phnom Penh, 20 June 2011 . . . Media Interviews 19 June 2011: Theary Seng with German press (1/2 hr.), Theary Seng with RFI (1 1/2 hrs.), Phirun Peou with Liberation (2 hrs.) 20 June 2011: Theary Seng interview with Liberation (1 1/2 hrs.) Press Release: Making Booklets of Closing Order of Case 002 Freely Available for Trial Hearings and High Schools Phnom Penh, 15 June 2011 Open Letter: AKRVC President Theary Seng's Open Letter to the "Disloyal Staff at the ECCC" for your "Crime against Bureaucracy" Phnom Penh, 10 June 2011 Open Letter: AKRVC President Theary Seng's Open Letter to UN Co-Prosecutor Andrew Cayley Phnom Penh, 9 June 2011 Press Release: The Extraordinary Reunion of Father and Sons 36 Years Later: Dr. Sorpong Peou, KR Survivor and Chair of the Politics Department of University of Winnipeg, Enterpreneur Phyrun Peou, and Family are Miraculously Reunited with their Father Nam Peou, an Official of the Khmer Republic, Who Climbed Out of a Mass Grave after the KR Killed Him in 1975 Phnom Penh, 8 June 2011 Press Release: Civil Parties of Orphans Class Demand ECCC Inventory and Provincial Learning Centers as Part of their Right to Reparations for all KR Victims, 23 July 2010 Press Release: Founder, President of the Cambodia-based First-registered Victims Association Theary Seng Calls for the Resignations of UN Administrator Knut Rosandhaug and Co-Investigating Judge Siegfried Blunk, 12 May 2011 Press Release: Founder, President of the Cambodia-based First-registered Victims Association Theary Seng Urges Civil Party Lawyers, the NGOs, the Victims Support Section to Assist Interested Victims to File in Cases 003 and 004, 10 May 2011 
Meeting of AKRVC Officers, chaired by its founder and president Theary Seng, at CIVICUS Cambodia, 17 August 2010 |
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We,
the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia ("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.
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, towns and villages 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.  Center for Justice & Reconciliation conducting a personal tutorial on the ECCC for the Officers of the Victims Association, 20 Oct. 2009. We, the AKRVC, would like to acknowledge the technical assistance provided by the Center for Justice & Reconciliation, now a major project of CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education, 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-cam.org or contact Mr. SOK Leang at leang@civicus-cam.org or Ms. SENG Chan Theary (AKRVC founder, current president and representative of the Civil Parties of Orphans Class, a sub-group of AKRVC.
Many of us came together as a result of the Justice & Reconciliation public forums facilitated by Ms. Theary beginning in 2006 and Civil Party Seminars facilitated by both Mr. Leang and Ms. Theary beginning in 2007—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.)
Marissa Roth's editorial reportage, "One person crying: Women and War - Cambodia." 2009 (featuring AKRVC members, e.g. Sok Chea, Dy Ratha, Theary Seng, etc.)
"Khmer Rouge victims given a voice in Cambodia trials" by Seth Mydans (International Herald Tribune, 16 June 2008)
Officers
and members of the Victims Association (including Mr. LY Monysak
looking on in top left photo, quoted in the Seth Mydans article) from
all over Cambodia at the National Conference on Justice &
Reconciliation, 20 Nov. 2008.
Mr. SOK Leang (CJR Civil Party coordinator) and Ms. YIM Sotheary (CJR Psycho-social Support Section) assisting victims at Kampong Cham public forum, Aug. 2008. Justice & Reconciliation public forums in provinces of Cambodia, 2008 (3 parts)
Clips from Rattanakiri and Koh Kong provinces, including NHK.
Video clips from public forums in Koh Kong, Takeo and Pailin provinces. Also, if you would like to listen to all the public forums "Justice & Reconciliation" during 2006-2009 on the Voice of Justice & Reconciliation radio program, please visit the Center for Justice & Reconciliation, now a major project of CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education. More international news videos of AKRVC members:
………. Thank you for visiting us at www.akrvictims.org. This website is now under construction.
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By Mr. LY Monysak, AKRVC founding member.
