Khmer Rouge trial warns of Darfur inaction

While I was skimming through the International Herald Tribune, an article about the recent Khmer Rouge trial caught my eye. It explained the obstacles the trial was undergoing due to political complications. Although an international court has long been ready for the trials, the Cambodian court’s ties to former Khmer Rouge leader and current Prime Minister Hun Sen have barred international tribunals from taking any further action.

News of ever more delay in bringing justice to the millions killed in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 was disheartening. It has been almost three decades since the killings, yet those who coordinated the mass slaughter of their people have not faced substantial charges. Several of these leaders are still living freely, and so much time has passed since the end of the Khmer Rouge regime that it has allowed the leader, Pol Pot, and one of his main henchmen, Ta Mok, enough time to age and die before they could be tried. The article was a depressing reminder that even though the regime has already collapsed, corruption still prevents these murderers from receiving justice.

The article also reminded me of my personal experience with the history of the Khmer Rouge. Last year, I was able to visit the infamous Tuol Sleng detention center and the killing fields in Cambodia and saw for myself the remnants of the Khmer Regime destruction. Dried splatters of blood cover the floors, walls and ceilings of torture rooms; bits of cloth and bone exist among the weeds of the killing fields — remains of those shot or strangled to death. And a sign in the field tells a story about killing babies by cracking their skulls against the trunk of a tree. These were all immediate and traumatizing evidence of the mass slaughter in Cambodia.

However, what struck me most deeply were the pictures of the victims in the detention center. Row after row of faces looked dully back at me. Their eyes showed no anger, hatred or even fear. Instead, they were empty and lifeless.

These atrocities occurred at a time where intervention could have taken place, had the world not been ignorant of what was happening. The lack of awareness was deadly and resulted in the loss of more than 1.4 million lives. Although the Khmer Rouge has come and gone, the cruel and unnecessary loss of innocent lives is, unfortunately, still taking place at this moment.

The people of Darfur have been living in treacherous conflict for more than three years. Even though some international organizations and countries have finally begun steps toward resolving the situation, their delayed action is blatant proof that most nations capable of exerting pressure upon murderous regimes are too caught up in other concerns. Turning a blind eye to the ongoing horrors is certainly the easiest path and may seem to be the more pragmatic option, but in the end, problems don’t resolve themselves. In time, conditions will only worsen and spread, so the responsibility lies on those who can help to take action.

The crisis in Darfur can seem unreal and largely unrelated to our Rice bubble. But we should all stop to really evaluate what it is like for the people who must face the threat of robbery, rape, loss of loved ones and loss of their own lives every day. It is our job as people of this society to raise awareness and contribute to ending the genocide by pressing for further action by the United Nations and countries with power. We can also join organizations on campus such as Amnesty International to help organize the next Darfur Awareness event.

We can donate money or send messages to the U.N. and our government just by taking some time out of our days to log onto savedarfur.org. We have the ability to make a difference and should take this opportunity to change the course of history.

Joyce Yao is a Will Rice College freshman.

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