Phnom penh: The head of Cambodia’s leading center for the study of the Khmer Rouge era has urged Armenia to lead efforts to promote education about genocide globally.
Youk Chhang traveled to the South Caucuses nation to attend events last month marking the 101-st anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide. The founder and executive director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, known as DC-Cam, Youk Chhang, is also behind the Sleuk Rith Institute, a project currently underway to establish in Phnom Penh a permanent research center and memorial to the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime.
“Genocide education is indispensable to peace and prosperity—including human rights protection,” Youk Chhang was quoted as saying by the official Armenian news agency, ARMENPRESS, while taking part in the forum entitled “Against the Crime of Genocide” in the capital, Yerevan.
“Armenia should take the lead or team up with other countries who have been through genocide – seize the opportunity offered by ourselves who suffered genocide to establish the world’s first genocide education program for all,” he added.
Nearly 30 countries have officially recognized that a genocide occurred, and Armenia is lobbying for more countries to recognize what many historians characterize as a systematic attempt to exterminate a people.
Hollywood actor George Clooney attended the conference and expressed that he would like to visit Cambodia, Youk Chhang said.
About 1.7 million people died in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 under the Pol Pot regime.
Youk Chhang noted that the Armenian Genocide early in the last century had been followed by numerous other genocidal acts around the world. He stressed that education about genocide and discussion of the subject was crucial, especially in post-conflict societies like Cambodia, if such atrocities are not to be repeated.
