Cambodia: Jolie lauds survivors of forced marriage

By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AA) - Actress, director, and humanitarian Angelina Jolie spent Tuesday night in the Cambodian capital, pledging her support for efforts to prosecute the Khmer Rouge crime of forced marriage and those working here to end violence against women.

Jolie, a UN special envoy for the rights of refugees, co-founded the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative with former British Foreign Secretary William Hague in 2012. Two years later, both spearheaded a summit in London focusing on ending sexual violence in conflict.

She recently directed a feature film called First They Killed My Father, set in Cambodia and based on a book about the memories of a child during the Khmer Rouge. The film premiered in the northern city of Siem Reap over the weekend, and in Phnom Penh on Tuesday night.

Speaking at an event held by the British Embassy, Jolie acknowledged the work of the NGO and legal community to highlight the sexualized crimes that were committed during the conflict.

“Please, please let me know how I can in any way further all the great work you’ve been doing and add to your voices,” she said.

She said she was “very conscious of the part that [sexual violence] played in the suffering of the Cambodian women in the genocide.”

“I welcome the fact the [Khmer Rouge] tribunal has begun to address this issue and I pay tribute to all the survivors in Cambodia, including those who have so bravely given evidence,” Jolie added.

“I believe they are heroes to us all. There is so much stigma and they face so much opposition, it is so important that we stand by them and protect them and hear them and respect them.”

- A crime against humanity

Forced marriage during the Khmer Rouge era in 1975-1979 has been tried as a crime against humanity by prosecutors in what is known as Case 002/02 at the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

International co-prosecutor Nicolas Koumjian told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that the crime of forced marriage is “distinct from any other case that we’ve had and international jurisprudence about forced marriage,” even compared to cases in Sierra Leone, Africa, where women and girls were given away to rebel soldiers.

In Cambodia, the policy was designed to “defend the [Communist Party of Kampuchea] socialist revolution…through the regulation of marriage by whatever means necessary,” the court says.

British Ambassador Bill Longhurst said in a speech that a documentary commissioned by the embassy on the subject of forced marriage “will surely be an invaluable source of knowledge and experience to inform any future such action in international or hybrid courts.”

The documentary, which features testimonies of survivors of the forced marriage policy, is set to roll out as soon as possible, he said, with a focus on trying to have it shown in universities.

Speaking to Anadolu earlier on Tuesday, Teresa de Langis, lead researcher on the Cambodian Women’s Oral History Project, said Jolie’s attempts to highlight the trauma of forced marriage in Cambodia will be of benefit to members of the community advocating for survivors.

“It’s immensely important. Every time a person of her stature pays attention and remembers what’s happening in Cambodia, it helps us to see we are part of a global community of people who really care about this issue and that it didn’t just happen in Cambodia,” she said.

“For me, it’s exciting to see these global connections. Things like prevention can be much more meaningful. When we know how sexual violence works in conflict, the better we are able to prevent it.”

The Khmer Rouge, an ultra-Maoist guerrilla force, seized Phnom Penh in April 1975 after battling the US-backed Lon Nol regime. After emptying the capital and other urban centers, the Khmer Rouge implemented a plan to bring the country back to “Year Zero”. People were forced into labor and summarily executed in killing sites around the country. An estimated 1.5 million people died between that date and January 1979, when Vietnamese troops overthrew the Khmer Rouge and installed a new government, the leader of which, Hun Sen, continues to rule today.