Cambodi The Khmer Empire

Cambodia is a small country of Southeast Asia, less than half the size of the state of California (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian Genocide”). The Cambodian government in the mid 1970’s was unstable as Lon Nol, the Cambodian prime minister, and his forces were being stretched dealing with conflicts of Vietnamese communists, and a rising group of Cambodian communists called the Khmer Rouge Party. (Peace Pledge Union) As the government grew weaker and began to loose control, The Khmer Rouge Party overthrew the country. They began killing for their cause in 1975. The Khmer Rouge Party, under the rule of a man called Pol Pot, enforced a new way of life following values and rules similar to Maoist-Communism (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian Genocide”). The Khmer Party attempted, in simplistic terms, to nationally centralize the middle or farming class of Cambodia (“World Without Genocide: Cambodian

Cambodia holds an affluent and alluring history. Throughout this paper the writer will discuss different topics impacting Cambodia’s history, positive and negative impact of colonization, economic, political, cultural and social legacies, and to answer if western countries or colonizer are responsible to help solve some of the lasting problems of colonization.

The act of genocide is an extremity that accompanies the ever modernizing world, a reality that is increasingly discovered as the twentieth century inched toward the twenty-first. Cambodia, a country located in southeast Asia, is unlucky enough to have fallen under the terror of their own personalized war on humanity. A purpose whose plans took root in the quest for an egalitarian system, and thus purposefully began attacking its own economy. All the while destroying any constructs the Pol Pot regime felt may lead to a type of variety among the people, for there is safety in homogeneity. And so this culture suffered through extermination, whether that be in religion, music, or even in common family and friend relationships. Cambodia has been stripped of its individuality through each and every citizen for the sake of uniformity. When such a conflict as this, has finally come to an end it is undeniable that the process of rebuilding must commence. That reconstruction aimed toward all that has been destroyed: the economy, all types of infrastructure, a sense of community among the people. It is the responsibility of the country, as well as the developed outside world, to distribute aid toward this process. Far too often foreigners invade with their own objectives disguised as good will. Post-genocide Cambodia has for years received aid that was either, unable to meet it’s needs or not established long enough to make a significant or lasting difference. What is necessary is a

From the time humans began to exist in this world, hatred seemed to be a superior attribute that one comes accustomed to. This inevitable emotion has the ability to provoke people to engage in acts without thinking; but it is the acts that are premeditated that should be be classified as evil and brutal. This appalling endeavor is known as genocide, the deliberate destruction of a particular national, racial or religious group. Between the years of 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge party leader, Pol Pot seized power of Cambodia and forced civilians of urban regions into rural lands for labor in order to build his own agrarian utopia. Over the course of these four years, the Cambodians and other minor ethnic groups suffered through labor camps, starvation, and torture which all led up to their demise. As a result of these mass killings, the country 's population depleted by over 20 percent in just a few years. The country went through hardship during and even before the genocide began including wars, torment, and considerable numbers of deaths.

Cambodia, a southeastern Asian country, was under the rule of prince Norodom Sihanouk since its independence from France in 1953. Cambodians lived in prosperity, and were self-sufficient under a “Buddhist socialist” government, but this peace was interrupted by the Vietnamese war (1955-1975) in its neighbor country. Although the prince tried to keep his people unaware of the war, by 1969 the United

Ever since the actions in Cambodia occurred, it has been debated whether it was an actual genocide. The general definition of genocide is the purposeful and methodical execution of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia demonstrated that a government can be guilty of genocide against its own nation. The radical communist party led by Pol Pot took over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. After 1979, the Khmer Rouge left a traumatized Cambodian culture that continues to undergo the repercussions of the genocide. People over the age of forty in Cambodia have stories to tell of fear, cruelty, hunger and the loss of family members. However, the Cambodian government is not making an effort to recognize the negative occurrences that have posed itself in the history of their culture.

From 1975 to 1979 Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge regime, had a goal to create a society that was completely self-sufficient. In four years the Khmer Rouge killed, tortured and starved to death somewhere between 1.7 and 2 million innocent Cambodian civilians, ultimately destroying any trace of humanity within Cambodia. Forty years later the people of Cambodia are still suffering and the country is still trying to put the pieces back together, both physically and emotionally.

Before 1975, Cambodia was just a small country in the mainland of South-east Asia. No one would ever expect the corruption in the years to come. In a little over 4 years, an estimated 1.7 million were put through the unimaginable. The Cambodian Genocide was the result of Khmer Rouge attempting to centralize the peasant farming society from 1975-1979.

Time and time again, power corrupts those who receive it, whether or not their intentions were benevolent in the first place. From 1975 to 1979, an attempt by Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, to form an egalitarian Communist farming society led to the death of 25% of the country’s population. The Khmer Rouge’s brutal social engineering targeted intellectuals, urban dwellers, civil servants, and religious leaders, among other existing groups occupying a high position in society. By the time the dust settled, Pol Pot’s regime had already became known as one of the most brutal and despotic in world history.

Still today Cambodia is a forever changing society that faces many challenges. Cambodia is mostly poor but there is a distinguished majority that is somewhat wealthy. Many different religions, cultures, and ethnic groups have established colonization in Cambodia but they all have one thing in common…poverty. The Khmer Rouge created an everlasting effect on Cambodia that will most likely be a problem for many more years to come. (Hidayat, 2010)

Although human trafficking is a global issue, the level of analysis I chose was regional. In this paper I am focusing on the Mekong region, where Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand are located. This region has a high amount of women and children that are trafficked into the sex industry. The theory I chose for this topic is Kenneth Waltz. Waltz is a neorealist and examines the international system from a top down view. He also looks at the behavior of states,

The worst famine in recorded history combined with mass killings of innocent people occurred in Cambodia as the result of the Khmer Rouge’s reign. Stripping their citizens of all modern technologies and practices, as well as killing all ethnic minorities and intellectuals destroyed Cambodian culture. Innocent people were killed on the basis that they may possibly be enemies of the state, although rarely was there evidence proving these millions of Cambodians were enemies at all. From 1975 to 1979 the Khmer Rouge was in power in Cambodia, and in that time around twenty percent of Cambodians died in their extreme communist society. Before the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia was becoming increasingly unstable after suffering war and an unstable

Prior to the 1960s Cambodia was considered a peaceful, neutral and to an extent prosperous country, however, nowadays it is known as one of the most tragic empires of all time. Geographically squeezed between Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia suffered a great blow with the wakening of the Vietnam War. Essentially, the fighting in neighboring Vietnam spread to Cambodia when the Americans started suspecting that various Vietnamese Communists were hiding in bases along different areas of Cambodia’s border. The American bombings killed thousands of innocent civilians and more importantly destroyed much of Cambodia’s existing social and economic structures. The devastating situation gave way to a wicked revolutionary Pol Pot who led the Khmer Rouge forces in Cambodia from 1963 until 1997. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were in pursuit of transforming the Cambodian society to a utopian one and bringing the country to ‘’year zero’’ as Pol Pot put it. In only four years, from 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge forces killed two million people while the devastation Pol Pot wreaked on his country remains hard to comprehend. The rise to power of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge was inseparable from US intervention. Although it was indigenous, Pol Pot’s revolution would not have won power without US economic and military destabilization of Cambodia. Civilian casualties in Cambodia drove an enraged populace into the arms of an insurgency that had enjoyed relatively little support until

The purpose of the research paper is to understand the concept of human trafficking within Cambodia. Furthermore, it is important to understand how the country is dealing with the epidemic of human trafficking. Indeed, it is imperative to introduce to the reader, first, the background and history of human trafficking in Cambodia. Next, to elaborate on the responses to the issue. Finally, in conclusion, include the challenges Cambodia encounters while trying to implement the laws, recommendations and the need for intervention.

This paper discusses the current health status of Cambodia, and the factors that influence it.