International Law and Cambodian Genocide: The Sounds of Silence

In: Human rights quarterly: a comparative and international journal of the social sciences, humanities, and law, Volume 11, Issue 1, p. 82-138

Abstract

An attempt is made to permanently quell the notion that the atrocities that occurred in Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) under Pol Pot & the Khmer Rouge government between 1975 & 1979 were only rumors perpetrated by refugees or by anticommunist diatribes. Factual evidence is presented that shows that these mass arbitrary killings & widespread systematic torture were indeed acts of genocide &, as such, violated international law. The possibility of bringing an application to the International Court of Justice is discussed, & concluded to be both legally feasible & politically desirable. K. Hyatt