Cambodia genocide survivors ‘thrilled’ at new Unesco status

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The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was one of three locations in Cambodia that gained Unesco recognition on July 11.

ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

PHNOM PENH - Survivors of Cambodia’s four-year genocide on July 12 told AFP they were “thrilled” that the site of their lives’ biggest horror has gained Unesco recognition.

Three notorious Cambodian torture and execution sites used by the Khmer Rouge regime to perpetrate genocide 50 years ago were inscribed on Unesco’s World Heritage List on July 11.

One of the sites, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in the capital, is a former high school that was converted into a notorious prison known as S-21, where an estimated 15,000 people were imprisoned and tortured.

“I am so thrilled,” said Mr Chum Mey, one of just a handful of S-21 survivors who now sells his memoirs in the prison compound where he says he was beaten, electrocuted and starved.

The two other sites are Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre, also in the capital, and another site known as M-13 in a rural area in central Kampong Chhnang province.

“I am so happy and excited that Unesco recognises Tuol Sleng museum, Choeung Ek and M-13,” Mr Chum Mey said. “This is for the next generation.”

Around two million people died of starvation, forced labour or torture or were slaughtered in mass killings between 1975 and 1979.

On July 12, students and tourists walked through the black-and-white mugshots of Tuol Sleng’s many victims and the preserved equipment used by Khmer Rouge tormentors.

Ms Khuon Sovann lost more than 10 relatives