Printer-friendly version
Send to friendThe Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) collects records of the victims of the Cambodia genocide in order to offer families and friends an opportunity to learn the precise fate of the disappeared. DC-Cam was established to keep the memory of the Cambodian Genocide of April 1975 to January 1979 alive through the Family Tracing File System. Once family and friends have collected this invaluable information, they can feel a sense of closure. This service is provided to encourage Cambodians to address their country’s past, with the hope that this will allow them to heal from the trauma of the genocide. At the same time, DC-Cam is also on a quest to find legal evidence that can be used against former Khmer Rouge leaders in a court of law to further bring justice to the people of Cambodia. Founded shortly after the U.S. Congress passed the Cambodian Genocide Justice Act in April 1994, the Cambodian Genocide Program (CGP) was established in 1995 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in the United States. The main purpose of the CGP is to document the events that took place during the horrific period of Cambodian history known as the Khmer Rouge revolution. As a field office to the CGP, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) was founded in 1995 in Cambodia.
A unique service of DC-Cam is the Family Tracing File System. This service helps families discover the fate of their loved ones through detailed records that the Khmer Rouge regime kept on many individuals that disappeared during this time period. Although in most cases, the fate is that the relative was executed by the Khmer Rouge regime, families can still find closure and relief in knowing exactly what happened. In some cases, there are even records revealing the location of the remains of the missing. If remains can be located, families are able to perform the proper rites for the spirit of the victim. An estimated 80% of families that come to the center inquiring about loved ones, leave with answers as to what ultimately happened to them.
The Family Tracing File System is available to Cambodians and anyone else who may have lost someone during the Khmer Rouge revolution. People can simply come to DC-Cam and inquire about the individual. When people are provided with detailed information about what happened to their family and friends, the memory of the genocide is kept alive. This is ultimately the main goal of DC-Cam, preserving the memory of the Cambodian genocide. It is important to keep these memories alive, no matter how horrifying, in order for the people of Cambodia to build a strong future as well as to prevent such atrocities from ever happening again.
It is a central goal of DC-Cam to locate as many people as possible who survived the genocide and to encourage them to share their stories of survival, no matter how horrifying they may be. It is also critical for a new and appropriately designed facility to be established that can properly preserve these crucial pieces of Cambodian history long into the future.
This tactic may contribute to healing in other countries that have suffered genocide, civil conflict or widespread disappearances and detentions.
Summary completed on February 28, 2003
Read more innovative tactics
