Human Rights Violations

Pol Pot & The Cambodian Genocide

By Hady & Keith

The Southern asian countries were caught up in a political battle between

Communism and Capitalism. One by one each country had to pick which
economic system they were gonna use. While Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar all
chose their economic systems, a man by the name of Saloth Sar or better known
as Pol pot, had recently gained political power. Pol Pot was the leader of the
Khmer Rouge, the political party that he had established himself. Pol Pot was born
in a small village north of the Cambodian capital in 1925, he moved to Phnom
Penh where he attended a Buddhist Monastery and then a
French Catholic school. In 1949 he received a scholarship
to attend a school in Paris where he studied Radio
technology. This is when he started to get influenced by the writings
and speeches of Stalin and Mao Zedong, he had joined the circle of
Communism. He returned to Cambodia in 1953 after they had
overthrown the French government in the area and had created an
independent state. He joined a political party called the Khmers peoples
revolutionary party (or KPRP) he taught at a private school while he
was planning a revolution. In 1962 he became his party's secretary general, and in 1970
Cambodia’s Prince Norodom Sihanouk was overthrown by Lon nol backed by the U.S.
government. There was then a civil war between the communist party and Lon nols party. And
in 1975 Pol pot and his newly established Khmer Rouge was in power, starting a 4 year period
in which many human rights violations occurred.

The Cambodian genocide was the systematic killing and persecution of Cambodians by the
Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot. The reason behind the genocide was a social
engineering project to create a classless agrarian society. Once the Khmer Rouge came into
power, they instituted a radical reorganization of Cambodian society. This affected Cambodian
culture in multiple ways such as, private property, money, religion, and traditional culture were
abolished and the country became known as the Democratic Kampuchea. They were also
forcibly removed city dwellers to the countryside where they had to work as farmers digging
canals and tending to crops. Mismanagement of the country’s economy led to shortage of food
and medicine, and many died of disease and starvation. Minorities such as Christians and
Buddhists were targeted for repression but mainly it was the Cham Muslim group that was
affected the most by the genocide. 70% (500,000) of the Cham population was exterminated.
Others that were targeted were those considered “intellectuals” who were given special
treatment and were the target of Pol Pot’s reign of terror. This meant teachers, doctors, and
clergy, as well as anyone who wore glasses. The genocide lasted 4 years (between 1975 and
1979) and killed between 1.5 and 3 million people which was a quarter of the Cambodian
population. The reason there is such a wide gap between the estimated that were killed, is
because after Vietnam invaded, they released the records but some speculate that they
exaggerated. The consensus of other nations is that roughly 2 million Cambodians lost their
lives during Pol Pot’s reign of terror.

During this period, where the Cambodians basic human rights

were stripped away from them and they were persecuted, Pol
Pot and the Khmer Rouge believed that what they were doing
was best for the nation. This is a prime example of
ultranationalism, extreme devotion to a nation, regardless of the
effect it has on other nations, ethnicities, cultures, etc. Pol Pot
and the Khmer Rouge's ideology was to create a self-sustaining
nation. They concluded that the best way to go about this was to
stop immigration, and halt all foreign trade and went about it by
suppression of religion, culture, and language. The Khmer
Rouge had gained full control of the economy and put everyone
to work in the fields harvesting rice and other foods. The Khmer
Rouge took
advantage of their
power by
implementing laws that prevented many rights and
freedoms such as those (mainly Monks) who
opposed Pol Pot’s communist ways were killed. The
reason for laws like this is that Pol Pot wanted a
medieval hierarchy system, where he was the King
at the top and everyone else was a Peasant below
him without a middle class such as nobles. What Pol
Pot was driving for is ​completely like
Authoritarianism where he has absolute authority. How did ultranationalism effect Pol Pot’s
Cambodian genocide? The genocide itself shows Pol Pot’s ultranationalistic views. He didn’t
care what was sacrificed to achieve his goal of making Cambodia self-sustaining utopia in his
eyes.

World Reaction to the Cambodian Genocide: ​ Although the Khmer Rouge kept all information
moslty private and did allow anyone in the country, many
journalists were still in the country when they took power. And
those journalists had described everything they had saw. In
Washington, the U.S had officially denounced the actions that
had been carried out there, but did little to nothing to intervene,
due to the fresh loss of Vietnam in the back of their heads. Over
time they became more involved, in 1979 President Jimmy
Carter said that they were the worst human rights violators at
that time, but still took no affirmative action against the Khmer
Rouge. No international organization or group got involved with
the genocide to try and prevent it, and in 1982 the UN had finally
decided to create an investigation group to try and punish those
responsible for the genocide. Pol Pot was found and arrested in
1997 and was put under house arrest, then died in his sleep in
1998. The UN had only arrested a handful of Khmer Rouge
leaders and no one was put to death.

What is the relationship between ultranationalism and crimes against humanity?​ Using
the example of Pol Pot and the Cambodian genocide, there is a strong connection between the
2. When ultranationalists come into power, they tend to start prosecuting minority races. In the
example of Pol Pot, his ultranationalistic views are what led to the prosecution of the
Cambodians. Ultranationalism is nationalistic views that begin to effect other groups and
nations, whether its positive or negative. Majority of the time it ends up being negative because
people think that their nation is superior to others in every way and begin to believe that
because they are superior, other groups/nations should be treated as inferior.

Is Genocide and crimes against humanity a thing of the past? Why or why not?
Genocide and crimes against humanity are unfortunately not a thing of the past, there are still
many examples of Genocides today. For example the recent Nuba
mountains genocide in Sudan. The President of Sudan had ordered the
bombings of villages in Sudan to get rid of the non arab population, he had
also banned entry of humanitarian workers so that they could not treat
them. This started in 2009 and is still happening in the present day. A
modern example of a crime against humanity is the uyghur population in
China. The Uyghurs are a Muslim population that lives in the far west of
China. The Chinese government had started to round up the population
and send them to concentration camps or as they
call it “reducation camps” to strip them of their
Muslim culture and identity. This is occurring at
this time and many are being affected. These events still occur today
because of two reasons, one there will always be wars and hatred
among different ethnic groups and cultures, its just human nature. And
two, the UN is not prepared to take action with strong countries like China and most people
think its because they are afraid to take actions against groups or governments.

How can Crimes against Humanity be prevented?

Crimes against humanity can be prevented by freedom, if a country has a set of laws or ideals
of having freedom of choice, it would prevent many incidents and crimes from happening
a) What could Governments do to prevent it?
Governments as stated above should be a
democratic state or at least a place where
people values are protected by laws such as the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or
the American constitution amendments.Other
governments should sanction these countries
heavily so that they will cripple under their own
economy and be forced to stop. Another way
that these acts could be prevented is the UN
having a stronger stance against these
countries by threatening actions against the
country in question.
b) What could individuals do to prevent it?
People should spread awareness to whats really happening in those places to the best
of their ability, because ultimately the people voices are the most powerful when it
comes to preventing these genocides.

In conclusion, the Cambodian genocide was a bloody chapter in history. The Khmer Rouge
under the leadership of Pol Po persecuted the Cambodians to achieve his ultranationalistic
ideals of making Cambodia a self sustaining utopia. However the way that he went about doing
this was not acceptable. Even if motives were justified, he didn't care about what sacrifices he
made because he believed in his superiority. Nationalistic views today are similar to this where
some do whatever they can for their country but never go to such lengths like Pol Pot. There are
Humanitarian ways to go about developing ones nation and Pol Pot with his Khmer Rouge didn't
do this. He may have made his economy better for the country but at an extreme cost, he was
seen as less humane and many did not believe in him at the end.
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www.history.com/topics/cold-war/pol-pot​.

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www.biography.com/political-figure/pol-pot

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https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/cambodia

Quackenbush, Casey. “40 Years On, Cambodia Grapples With Khmer Rouge
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https://time.com/5486460/pol-pot-cambodia-1979/

Seejayscambodiangenocide-Blog. “To What Extent Did Ultranationalism Contribute To

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https://seejayscambodiangenocide-blog.tumblr.com/post/4060633548/to-what-extent-di
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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/cambodia/case-study/violence/in
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“Modern Genocides.” ​The Promise,​ 28 Mar. 2017,

https://thepromisetoact.org/modern-genocides/