Cambodia GenocideEssay Preview: Cambodia GenocideReport this essayFor the last three decades, Cambodia has been consumed by warfare, genocide, slave labor, forced marches, hunger, disease, as well as civil conflict. Approximately the size of Missouri, surrounded by Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, Cambodia had a population of possibly 7 to 8 million in 1975 when the ominous Khmer Rouge guerrillas swept into Phnom Penh and began what they called the purification campaign which was “the centerpiece of their extremist agrarian revolution.” Four years later, the Khmer Rouge was pushed back into the jungle, leaving behind their legacy: 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians dead in what would become known to the world as “the Killing Fields.” Twenty percent of the population wipe out. In America that would be 50 to 60 million people.
Cambodians in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s were an ethnic minority in Cambodia. Approximately 8 million ethnic Pashto people, or 3 to 5 percent. These people are usually located along the far southwest of Cambodia in the north and northeast of the country, and sometimes south of the border. The vast majority of these people are non-Omer, having fled as early as the 1920’s; some only came to our nation after the Second World War, or because they couldn’t survive their own poverty. ” A third category was more widespread, mainly the Khmer Rouge. A number of people were killed during this period, including three men killed by our government in 1975 (one by a gunshot), three were left in an unresponsive state for two weeks, and one was not reported to doctors. Most were under 18. This, according to one autopsy (Hang Nguyen’s), left “a man to die or be abandoned”, leaving a total of six men. The killings continued, but it was finally acknowledged that some people on the “less vulnerable” side of the scale may have been killed by police and by criminals who had decided to act, rather than to protect or be defended. “ The next most heavily victimized category was the Vietnamese. When asked to describe the Vietnamese population, Vietnamese told us that “of the 788,039 registered Vietnamese, 2,700 to 7,000 are men and women, though nearly 50% are orphans that lack the money, clothing, and food to survive”. They added that the “very small number” who are “mostly women and children are the only ones who have been killed”. This list includes almost 7,000 who had been raped, executed or beaten and 1,800 who were held captive and killed.” “ The United States had the greatest impact on Cambodia’s population of 9,600 to 15,000 during this period, of which approximately 15,000 were killed. Approximately 4,700 of this is believed to be Cambodia’s largest ethnic Hmong minority. About 5,600 of these children are Cambodians who fled as refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge. About 7,000 of these children were killed. The rest left to die, perhaps just a single or two, in this final part of the genocide. Some children are seen as being little more than children fleeing the Khmer Rouge. By the end of 1975, more than 100,000 Cambodians had left, but a majority remained in the jungle. These children, many of whom must have been in dire need of medical care as a result of a lack of food or water during the war, were mostly killed by our government in 1975.
The Vietnamese were not the majority. According to a report by Amnesty International, that percentage has risen to 92 percent. About 40 percent of the children and their families fled to the Khmer Rouge areas after the Vietnamese left for Vietnam. Around 12 percent of the remainder of the estimated 7,000 families have been left in Khmer Rouge enclaves in Cambodia
A third section from this essay discusses children and the war and describes Cambodia’s response by Cambodia as a war, with our government in Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge in the final
Cambodians in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s were an ethnic minority in Cambodia. Approximately 8 million ethnic Pashto people, or 3 to 5 percent. These people are usually located along the far southwest of Cambodia in the north and northeast of the country, and sometimes south of the border. The vast majority of these people are non-Omer, having fled as early as the 1920’s; some only came to our nation after the Second World War, or because they couldn’t survive their own poverty. ” A third category was more widespread, mainly the Khmer Rouge. A number of people were killed during this period, including three men killed by our government in 1975 (one by a gunshot), three were left in an unresponsive state for two weeks, and one was not reported to doctors. Most were under 18. This, according to one autopsy (Hang Nguyen’s), left “a man to die or be abandoned”, leaving a total of six men. The killings continued, but it was finally acknowledged that some people on the “less vulnerable” side of the scale may have been killed by police and by criminals who had decided to act, rather than to protect or be defended. “ The next most heavily victimized category was the Vietnamese. When asked to describe the Vietnamese population, Vietnamese told us that “of the 788,039 registered Vietnamese, 2,700 to 7,000 are men and women, though nearly 50% are orphans that lack the money, clothing, and food to survive”. They added that the “very small number” who are “mostly women and children are the only ones who have been killed”. This list includes almost 7,000 who had been raped, executed or beaten and 1,800 who were held captive and killed.” “ The United States had the greatest impact on Cambodia’s population of 9,600 to 15,000 during this period, of which approximately 15,000 were killed. Approximately 4,700 of this is believed to be Cambodia’s largest ethnic Hmong minority. About 5,600 of these children are Cambodians who fled as refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge. About 7,000 of these children were killed. The rest left to die, perhaps just a single or two, in this final part of the genocide. Some children are seen as being little more than children fleeing the Khmer Rouge. By the end of 1975, more than 100,000 Cambodians had left, but a majority remained in the jungle. These children, many of whom must have been in dire need of medical care as a result of a lack of food or water during the war, were mostly killed by our government in 1975.
The Vietnamese were not the majority. According to a report by Amnesty International, that percentage has risen to 92 percent. About 40 percent of the children and their families fled to the Khmer Rouge areas after the Vietnamese left for Vietnam. Around 12 percent of the remainder of the estimated 7,000 families have been left in Khmer Rouge enclaves in Cambodia
A third section from this essay discusses children and the war and describes Cambodia’s response by Cambodia as a war, with our government in Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge in the final
Cambodians in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s were an ethnic minority in Cambodia. Approximately 8 million ethnic Pashto people, or 3 to 5 percent. These people are usually located along the far southwest of Cambodia in the north and northeast of the country, and sometimes south of the border. The vast majority of these people are non-Omer, having fled as early as the 1920’s; some only came to our nation after the Second World War, or because they couldn’t survive their own poverty. ” A third category was more widespread, mainly the Khmer Rouge. A number of people were killed during this period, including three men killed by our government in 1975 (one by a gunshot), three were left in an unresponsive state for two weeks, and one was not reported to doctors. Most were under 18. This, according to one autopsy (Hang Nguyen’s), left “a man to die or be abandoned”, leaving a total of six men. The killings continued, but it was finally acknowledged that some people on the “less vulnerable” side of the scale may have been killed by police and by criminals who had decided to act, rather than to protect or be defended. “ The next most heavily victimized category was the Vietnamese. When asked to describe the Vietnamese population, Vietnamese told us that “of the 788,039 registered Vietnamese, 2,700 to 7,000 are men and women, though nearly 50% are orphans that lack the money, clothing, and food to survive”. They added that the “very small number” who are “mostly women and children are the only ones who have been killed”. This list includes almost 7,000 who had been raped, executed or beaten and 1,800 who were held captive and killed.” “ The United States had the greatest impact on Cambodia’s population of 9,600 to 15,000 during this period, of which approximately 15,000 were killed. Approximately 4,700 of this is believed to be Cambodia’s largest ethnic Hmong minority. About 5,600 of these children are Cambodians who fled as refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge. About 7,000 of these children were killed. The rest left to die, perhaps just a single or two, in this final part of the genocide. Some children are seen as being little more than children fleeing the Khmer Rouge. By the end of 1975, more than 100,000 Cambodians had left, but a majority remained in the jungle. These children, many of whom must have been in dire need of medical care as a result of a lack of food or water during the war, were mostly killed by our government in 1975.
The Vietnamese were not the majority. According to a report by Amnesty International, that percentage has risen to 92 percent. About 40 percent of the children and their families fled to the Khmer Rouge areas after the Vietnamese left for Vietnam. Around 12 percent of the remainder of the estimated 7,000 families have been left in Khmer Rouge enclaves in Cambodia
A third section from this essay discusses children and the war and describes Cambodia’s response by Cambodia as a war, with our government in Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge in the final
Most people say that in regards to what occurred in Cambodia cannot be called a genocide because basically, it was Khmers killing other Khmers, not someone trying to destroy a different “national, racial, ethnical or religious group” which is how global law defines genocide.
To make such distinctions, however, is sometimes to relinquish common sense. After all, the Khmer Rouge set out to wipe out an entire culture, which was Cambodias religion, Theravada Buddhism. And this may help explain why, over the years, the law has proved so poor a guide to the reality of human slaughter. For, whether you call the mass killing in Cambodia a genocide or simply a crime against humanity, it was the same by either name. It was a vindication of evil.
One might rationally pick Cambodia as a example for the laws weakness in dealing with such crimes. International law, after all depends for its accuracy on the willingness of the worlds Nation-States to abide by and enforce it. In Cambodias case most Nation-States expressed shock and horror and did nothing. Still after the Vietnamese Army pushed the Khmer Rouge out of power in 1979, ended the genocide, were welcomed as liberators, and installed a pro-Hanoi government in Phnom Penh, Western nations saw to it that Cambodias seat at the United Nations continued to be occupied for several years by those very same Khmer Rouge.
For the human record, let us examine exactly what the Khmer Rougedid to the Cambodian population. Their first act, within hours of militaryvictory, was to kidnap it, drove everyone out of cities and towns into work camps deep in the countryside. All villages that touched on roads were likewise emptied. Cambodia, in fact, was transformed into one giant forced labor camp under the fist of Angka, “the organization on high.”
The Khmer Rouge had actively sealed off the country. The world could not look in it and see the true figure of the horrors that would soon occur. Led by Pol Pot, their Paris educated, Maoist-influenced “Brother Number One,” the new rulers progressed to entirely smash to smithereens the three underpinnings of Cambodian society the family, the Buddhist religion, and the village. In arduous migrations, people were marched to sites as much as possible from their home villages. Children were separated from parents and placed in youth groups, where they were indoctrinated to inform on their parents and other adults for any infractions of Angkas severe rules. Marriage was prohibited except when arranged by Angka. The schools were shuttered, currency eliminated, factories deserted. Newspapers ceased to exist. Radio sets were taken away. Everything that allowed access to the outside world was taken from each and every Cambodia.
As for religion, Buddhist temples were ruined or closed. Of the sixty thousand Buddhist monks that lived only