Survivors' Voices, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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After California, Oregon, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts non profit ASRIC (Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia) has organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Nov. 13th and 14th 2009 what may be its last workshop to help the survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime share their stories, file a complaint for the trial now in process in Phnom Penh, possibly have their voice be heard.
ASRIC is guided by its mission to seek social peace and health for Cambodians who have been directly and indirectly affected by the Khmer Rouge regime, and still suffering from it, 30 years after the collapse of the regime.
Thanks to the support of the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University, and with the help of organizations of Pennsylvania (Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, The Khmer Post East Coast), ASRIC could gather in Philadelphia a group of volunteer lawyers and students to listen to the stories of survivors and help them file.

Today, after 10 workshops in 2009 in the United States, ASRIC has already received and filed more than 150 complaints that will soon be addressed to the ECCC in Phnom Penh (the “Khmer Rouge trial”) for the second part of the trial that should start early next 2010…

On the picture above: Cambodian native Soeun Tauch (right), 73, shares her experience and story as survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime with Cambodian native Phatry Derek Pan (left), a South East Asian specialist, human rights writer, and an ASRIC volunteer to help receive the stories of survivors.

On the picture left: Leakhena Nou, Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State University, Long Beach, and Founding Director of ASRIC, receives the stories of survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Survivor's Voices, Lowell, Massachusetts

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After California, Oregon, Virginia, Maryland, and a week before Pennsylvania, non profit ASRIC (Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia) organized in the building of the CMAA (Cambodian Mutual Assistance Assistance) in Lowell, Massachusetts from Nov. 6th to 8th 2009 another workshop to help the survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime share their stories, file a complaint for the trial now in process in Phnom Penh, possibly have their voice be heard.

ASRIC is guided by its mission to seek social peace and health for Cambodians who have been directly and indirectly affected by the Khmer Rouge regime, and still suffering from it, 30 years after the collapse of the regime.

Thanks to the support of the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University, ASRIC could gather in Lowell a group of volunteer lawyers and law students to listen to the stories of survivors and help them file. On the picture above Cosette Creamer (left), 28, an international relations and law PhD candidate at Harvard Law School, receives the story of Cambodian native Yean Chhoeun (center), 56, sharing her experience as a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime, with the help of Cambodian native Sonith Peou (right), a program director at Metta Health Center-Lowell.

On the picture above Cambodian native Sok Sareth (right), 53, shares her experience and story as a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime with Leakhena Nou (left), Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State University, Long Beach, and Founding Director of ASRIC.

Today, after 10 workshops in 2009 in the United States, ASRIC has already received and filed more than 150 complaints that will soon be addressed to the ECCC in Phnom Penh (the “Khmer Rouge trial”) for the second part of the trial that should start early next 2010…

Survivor's Voices, Virginia, Day 1

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On May 30 and 31, 2009, with the support of “Cambodian Americans for Human Rights” (CARHAD) and Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University, Leakhena Nou (a Professor of Sociology at California State University-Long Beach and the founder of ASRIC, the Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia) has organized a workshop for the Cambodian American community of the Washington DC area.

Pictured left: Leakhena Nou, founder of ASRIC (the Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia) and organizer of the workshop...

The goal of the “Cambodian Diaspora Victims’ Participation Project” is to educate the Cambodian Americans on the process of the ECCC-Khmer Rouge trial in Phnom Penh that has already started judging one of five KR responsibles held in custody. Eventually, the people who attend Nou’s workshops are proposed to participate in the trial by filing a complaint that could be presented to the ECCC ("Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia", the official term for the Khmer Rouge trial) within the next few months.
Nou’s numbers about the Cambodians from the diaspora who have filed claims are impressive: according to her just 17 Cambodians from France and Belgium have filed a complaint to be addressed to the ECCC. On her side here in the US, with her modest organization that has no real funding she has brought so far 22 Cambodians from Southern California to file a complaint. Northern California is still in process. In the fall 2009, Nou plans to organize a similar workshop in Lowell, Massachussets. If she could reach one hundred complaints by the end of the year, Nou would probably be more than satisfied…
On the first day of the workshop (noon to 5PM), Leakhena Nou explains the details of the ECCC, reviewing its historical background, how it currently works, using video materials that were originally produced for the Cambodians from Cambodia… Most important is her speech about the psychological consequences of the KR regime on those who have lived through it, as well as on their children even if they were born after the regime.

It seems everybody knows about it, but few people among the Cambodian American community really dare putting the focus on it and tell the truth that – if some have healed and made peace with what they have experienced in the past – an important proportion of people in this community are still really sick of what has happened 30 years ago: lack of confidence, sleep problems, suicidal tendencies, mental pain, permanent angriness, difficulty to trust, silent suffering, you name it... Nou’s background in medical sociology and field work observations in Cambodia corroborate the obvious similarity of symptoms between the Cambodians from home with the Cambodians from outside…

Pictured left: Tung Yap, President of “Cambodian Americans for Human Rights and Democracy” (CAHRAD)

Julie M. Sheker (pictured aboved left), a volunteer lawyer for ASRIC (“Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia”) taking notes during the presentation of Leakhena Nou.

Sarann Lim (pictured above), 81, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime, getting familiar with the administrative documents of the ECCC ("Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia", the official term for the Khmer Rouge trial)...