Tuesday, 29 May 2012
By Margot Wallström
Phnom Penh Post
People look at the skulls of Khmer Rouge victims in this file photo. Photograph: DC-Cam
More than 30 years ago, the world mourned the deaths of the nearly two
million people who lost their lives in Cambodia under the reign of the
Khmer Rouge regime, which renamed the country Democratic Kampuchea.
The
world acknowledged the State-sponsored torture, forced labour,
starvation and executions that laid waste to Cambodia, marking one of
the worst human tragedies in recorded history.
The overwhelming
presence of mass graves and the loss of an estimated full quarter of the
population of the country, told the story of what had transpired in
stark numerical terms.
What remained untold, and what the world
has not yet acknowledged, is the other calamity – that of widespread
rape and other sexual crimes that took place under the Khmer Rouge, and
were a central part of the range of atrocities perpetrated from January
1975 through to April 1979.
What was once silenced is now coming
to light, as mounting evidence points to an array of sexual violence
committed as part of the genocidal regime – including mass rape, gang
rape before execution, rape as a form of torture, and sexual mutilation.
With the creation in 2004 of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
(ECCC), a Cambodian/United Nations hybrid tribunal established under
Cambodian law to bring senior leaders and those most responsible for
atrocities committed in Democratic Kampuchea to trial, victims of the
full range of sexual violence committed under the Khmer Rouge had reason
to believe that their experiences of violation would be among those
considered by the Court.
Unfortunately, aside from the issue of
forced marriage, crimes of sexual violence have only been marginally
taken up by the ECCC, and experiences of sexual crimes have not been
integrated into the court’s strategies, whether forensic, investigative,
or prosecutorial.
In short, the court has determined that,
though rape did occur, it cannot be linked to the accused and so is not
included in the charges.
The court, which was created to give
justice to survivors, is faced with a pool of victims without recourse
to justice – and the accountability and acknowledgment it brings – for
the crimes they experienced as part of the general atrocities.
Unless
the court finds a way to address this issue, it will be perceived as
implicitly re-enforcing the silence about conflict-related sexual
violence, and not providing a counterbalance to the impunity that has
prevailed.
Despite this, Cambodian women are beginning to speak up.
Over
five months ago, in early December 2011, we were present at a Cambodian
Women’s Hearing on Sexual Violence under the Khmer Rouge, when
witnesses and survivors, as well as experts, came together to give
testimonies about the vast numbers of rapes which were perpetrated by
members of the Khmer Rouge against countless women, and the reign of
impunity as perpetrators went unpunished.
The Hearing, which was
convened in Phnom Penh by the Cambodian Defenders Project, gave
survivors a public platform for the first time to demand justice.
We
heard many stories, among them the devastating testimony of one woman,
who, beginning from age 18, suffered multiple rapes and gang rapes, and
instead of sympathy and care, faced mockery and prejudice from her
community.
Distraught, she tried to commit suicide twice, and survived in dignity only by fleeing her village.
Another
testifier at the hearing reported that she was among 30 women targeted
for execution, with each woman methodically raped before being killed.
She was the only victim who survived.
Experts asserted that the
threat or experience of sexual violence was a daily reality for most
women under the regime, that acts of sexual violence were seldom
punished and implicitly endorsed by the “enemy policy” of the highest
leadership, and that victim-survivors are still traumatized by the
experience, and stigmatized by their communities.
After the
Women’s Hearing I wrote to Prime Minister Hun Sen, and to the judges of
the ECCC, to express my concern that survivors face obstacles in their
quest for justice, whilst their perpetrators remain free.
I
echoed the recommendations from the Women’s Hearing, that these crimes
must be given the full benefit of the court’s resources and attention,
as afforded other crimes against humanity before the ECCC, and I called
for the establishment of mechanisms for appropriate recognition and
reparations for victims of sexual violence under the Khmer Rouge regime.
It is imperative that these crimes do not remain “secret”, and
it is critical that they are addressed formally and not stricken from
the official historical record of the Khmer Rouge era.
Until the
voices and experiences of women are part of this process, this chapter
of Cambodia’s history cannot be considered closed.
The history
of rape has been a history of denial, and it is unacceptable that it is
the victim, and not the attacker, that is shamed and stigmatized.
The
scope of what can be prosecuted must be revisited by the ECCC, and if
prosecution is not possible, other alternative mechanisms to acknowledge
these crimes must be established, utilizing the expertise of the court.
The government of Cambodia, which has an obligation to protect
its citizens and to make an attempt to address ongoing injustices, must
support survivors of sexual violence by addressing community stigma and
lasting trauma and eliminating violence against women in present day
Cambodia.
I call on the government of Cambodia and the ECCC to
use their full and independent capacities to honour their courage and
acknowledge the sacrifices of the victims and survivors.
Margot Wallström is the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict
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