Cambodian Women’s Oral History Project on Gender-based violence under the Khmer Rouge regime Theresa de Langis, Ph.D., Affiliate Fellow Center for Khmer Studies

1. Early Findings
Cambodian Women’s Oral History Project
on gender-based violence under the
Khmer Rouge regime
Theresa de Langis, Ph.D., Affiliate Fellow
Center for Khmer Studies
30 April 2014, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

2. Abstract
The CambodianWomen’s Oral History Project was launched as an
independent research project in 2013 with the aim to correct the historical
erasure of women’s experiences of a wide scope of sexualized violence
under the regime. With a goal of the collection 20 life-story testimonies
from survivors and witnesses throughout Cambodia, the project recently
collected its 18th narrative and is now preparing files for a public access
archive.The arc of the total narrative encompasses French colonial rule to
the present day, from narrators that reach from all corners of Cambodia.
The presentation will highlight early findings of the project, and their
potential relevance to Case 002/002 in its inclusion of rape.The
presentation will also touch on the shared-authority, social-change
methodology of the project, and to the significance of life -story accounts
to gender and genocide globally.
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3. Background relative to ECCC
▪ Office ofCo-Investigative Judges
▪ Closing Order Case 002 (15 September 2010)
▪ Forced Marriage
▪ Rape Inside Forced Marriage.
▪ Excludes Rape Outside Forced Marriage
“The official CPK policy regarding rape was to prevent its occurrence and to punish the perpetrators. Despite the fact
that this policy did not manage to prevent rape, it cannot be considered that rape was one of the crimes used by
the CPK leaders to implement the common purpose.”
▪ Trial Chamber
▪ Scope of Case 002/02 (4 April 2014)
▪ Forced Marriage (National)
▪ Rape within Forced Marriage
▪ InternationalCo-Prosecutor
▪ Supplementary Submission in Case 004 (24April 2014)
Requests the investigation of sexual or gender-based violence as well as forced marriage in key districts.The allegations
include forced marriages, rapes and sexual violence outside the context of forced marriages, including instances
where women were raped prior to being executed, and instances where women who reported rapes during the Khmer
Rouge period were subsequently executed.
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4. Early Research
Kayanee Mam, “Evidence of Sexual Abuse during the Rule of Democratic Kampuchea,” Searching for theTruth
(Documentation Center of Cambodia, March 2001)
Nakagawa Kasumi, Gender-Based Violence during the Khmer Rouge Regime: Stories of Survivors from the Democratic
Kampuchea (1975-1979) (Cambodian Defenders Project, 2008)
Farina So, The Hijab of Cambodia: Memories of Cham MuslimWomen after the Khmer Rouge (Documentation Center
of Cambodia, 2011)
Doung Savorn, The Mystery of SexualViolence Under the Khmer Rouge Regime (Cambodian Defenders Project, June
2011)
Katrina Natale, “’I Could Feel My Soul Flying Away from My Body:’ A Study on Gender-Based Violence during
Democratic Kampuchea in Battambang and Svay Rieng Provinces” (Cambodian Defenders Project, November 2011)
Theresa de Langis and Silke Studzinsky, Briefing Paper to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on
SexualViolence in Conflict on the ECCC, the Cambodian Women’s Hearing, and Steps for Addressing SexualViolence
under the Khmer Rouge Regime, (unpublished, May 2012)
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5. Methodology: Oral History
Life story
Shared authority
Women exclusive
WHO/SRSG SVC
Social Change
Informed Consent
Safety/Security
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6. Process
Independent Research
Kickstarter
CDP
Intermediaries
CDP
TPO
KdK
YRDC
VSS
YfP
Psychological Support
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7. Framework
Feminist/Gendered
WPS UN SCR Agenda
(1325, 1820, etc.)
CEDAW
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8. Culture: Chbap Srey
Mother, daughter,
sister, wife
Patience
Silence
Honor
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9. Interviews
▪ 17 women
▪ 16 Provinces
▪ Khmer, Cham, Kreung
▪ Ages from 48 – 82
▪ Includes KR-affiliated, “New
People” and “Base People”
▪ 1 transgendered; 1 factory
worker in PP; 1 S-21 “nurse”; 1
house servant ofTa Mok
Archives
Transcript/
Translation
Video
Photos
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10. Forced Marriage
▪ Forced Marriage
▪ Abusive Forced Marriage
(includes rape, sometimes
ordered by KR officials)
▪ Multiple marriages
▪ Polygamy (husband takes on
multiple wives; married
husband engages in forced
marriage)
▪ Transactional/Survival
Marriages
Marriage
Forced Marriage 9
Abusive Forced
Marriage (includes
rape)
4
Multiple marriages 9
Polygamy
(mentioned)
3
Transactional
/Survival
2
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11. SexualViolence
▪ Victim of rape
▪ Witness of rape
▪ Knowledge of rape (rape culture)
▪ Stigma/Shame (includes ongoing
trauma)
▪ Child from rape
▪ Spontaneous mention of suicide
▪ Mention of Code 6 ,“immoral
offenses,” Khos Silathor
(Punished)
SexualViolence
Victim of rape 10
Witness of rape 6
Knowledge of rape 16
Stigma/Shame of
Victims
4
Child from rape 2
Suicidal
3
Code 6 17 (3)
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12. SexualViolence: Some types
▪ Mass rape
▪ Gang rape
▪ Rape with object
▪ Sexual mutilation
▪ Sexual slavery
▪ Multiple rapes
▪ Public rape/sexual assault
▪ Rape of enemy
▪ Rape in prison
 Rape before execution
 Rape by cadre and leaders
 Sexual harassment/humiliation
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13. Code 6: “Do not abuse women”
Khos Silathor
“illicit sex”

14. Highlights
• Longevity of conflict experience
•Under bombardment/South/NorthVN abuses
•In KR-controlled areas
•Multi-generational violence/rapes
•Role of Leaders/Accused
•Role of friendship in survival
•Forms of resistance (“crazy”; illness; against rape/FM)
•Gendered roles/pressures & obligations
•Forced versus arranged marriage, other variations
•Surplus of widows/FHH post-KR
•Full range of abuses:
•Pregnancy; wet nurses; separation from children; widowhood; mourning roles; on-going
poverty, displacement; KR leaders/perpetrators still in power today, etc.
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15. Motivation: Breaking silence to shift blame and
shame from victim to perpetrator
•“Future generation”
•Non-repetition
•History/remembrance
•Age
“In fact, my [civil party]
complaint for Case 002 is
about how they killed my
parents. But I also mention
the rape. If I am the court I
need to push the process
about raping minor girl
and sexual abuse. If they
do not, what can I do? I
have offered to dare to
come in front of the court.
If they do not invite me to
listen to my story, what
can I do? ”
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16. Outstanding Questions
Who will report and when
to whom variance
(ElizabethWood)
Definitional ambiguity (“Is
this rape? I am not sure.”)
“Distinct crime” where
shame and stigma related
to the crime may have
greater impact than crime
itself.
Cultural narratives
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17. Key (tentative) conclusions: Women’s story of their experiences of
violence provide us a different, and therefore more nuanced, understanding of the atrocity
Crimes continue
(abusive forced
marriage)
Patterns of sexual
violence “replicated”
(gang rape by young
male cadre for
punishment)
Impacts continue
(access to justice;
trauma; stigma)
Insecurity unresolved
(KR return?)
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18. Next Steps
Archives
▪ Validate
translations/transcriptions
Dissemination
▪ Website (perpetuate)
▪ Academic/Practitioner
Publications
▪ Cultural reproduction
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