The director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has gathered evidence against the former Khmer Rouge leadership, returned last week from a trip to Iraq where he was assisting in a similar initiative.
Youk Chhang said Monday he had been invited to Iraq by the US State Department, in collaboration with the Coalition Provisional Authority and with the support of the Iraqi Governing Council, to help collect documents that could be used to prosecute members of Saddam Hussein’s fallen regime for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“My assistance has been very welcomed because I am also a survivor,” said Youk Chhang, who lost relatives, including his sister, in the Khmer Rouge’s mass killings. He said people involved in the Iraqi initiative are discussing holding a tribunal as early as 2004.
“The most important lesson they should learn from us is not our success but the mistakes we have made, such as, ‘We should not delay this [tribunal] process. We should move on faster,’” Youk Chhang said.
He said that on his visit he located a number of important documents through political party officers and NGO workers who remained in Iraq during the US-led invasion. These acquisitions could call for the establishment of a Documentation Center of Iraq, Youk Chhang said.
“The idea has been very welcomed by participants,” he added.
He also said that other potential advisers, such as human rights activists and veterans of other tribunals, had been invited to help in Iraq, but they had declined because of security fears.
Youk Chhang said that when he was asked if he feared for his safety in Iraq, “I told them I survived the Khmer Rouge.”
Human rights officials in Iraq currently estimate that 300,000 people were exterminated under Hussein’s regime and were buried in 260 mass graves. So far, 40 graves have been identified, Youk Chhang said.
The Documentation Center of Cambodia has estimated that
1.7 million Cambodians were killed by the Khmer Rouge.
“The number of people who died might be different. The number of mass graves might be different, but the suffering was the same,” Youk Chhang said.
He said he plans to return to Iraq in January to continue assisting the documentation initiative.
