YOUTH FOR PEACE. Youth for Peace (YFP) Cambodia

Transcription

1 YOUTH FOR PEACE Dealing with the past towards a peaceful future Youth for Peace (YFP) was created in 1999, registered with the Cambodian Ministry of Interior in 2001 and believes strongly in the central role youth have in building a peaceful and just society in Cambodia. By helping the target group of high school age youth grow in spiritual and cognitive development, confidence, and communication skills, and by training and motivating them to civic engagement, YFP impacts the present and helps to build a future generation of involved citizens, strong leaders and good role models. YFP builds the capacity of youth and important stakeholders involving in the project to design and implement peace building and reconciliation projects and most importantly, promotes solidarity by encouraging them to do it together; first by analyzing the conflict and social problem, then mutually identifying social and justice issues, and lastly thinking creatively how their cooperative efforts can help overcome barriers to justice and peace. It envisions a society where people have equal access and active participation towards sustainable development and harmony. Youth for Peace (YFP) Cambodia # 4 / 6 G, St. 513, Sangkat Beungkok 1, Khan Tuolkork, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia

2 MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Dear Readers, Welcome to our photo album! This photo album demonstrates the achievements of the Youth for Peace work done regarding memory, healing, justice, truth and reconciliation in the grass root level. Working on these fields is not an easy job because it is intangible and inner. We have to deal with the heart, the soul, and the mind of the people. These mechanisms have been integrated into the process of community healing to touch the hearts and souls of the people and to engage people of both generations the survivors and their children in interaction to come to term with the past in the process of Transitional Justice. Our approaches to promote healing include intergenerational dialogues; art through painting, story-telling, poems and songs; collective memory through community based processes, public art exhibitions and the integration of the Buddhism approach. What are the processes conducted by Youth for Peace? What achievements have been done in the communities in the areas of memory and art? What are the impacts so far in the target communities? To learn more about its processes, achievements, and impacts of the work that Youth for Peace has done please read and see the following pages. Finally, thank you very much for your attention to our photo album about our Youth for Justice and Reconciliation (YJR) project. I hope that this will help you to understand the mechanisms and approaches towards the processes of understanding and acknowledgement for the survivors of the Khmer Rouge (KR) regime ( ) in the grass root communities in the context of Cambodia. I believe that we all together can prevent serious crimes and violent conflicts from happen again, if we all work towards a peaceful world with equality. Phnom Penh, April 2010 Long Khet Founder and Executive Director

3 Youth for Justice and Reconciliation To contribute to the justice process in Cambodia in the context of the proceedings of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the YJR project has been implementing its activities since In Cambodia the knowledge about the Khmer Rouge (KR) time among youth is low as the subject is not taught in schools and the information that is transferred within families varies in contents and truth. As an outreach program, YJR project is providing trainings, conducting community dialogues, art workshops, public exhibitions, theater, trips to former local mass killing places, visits to memory sites in Phnom Penh and water ceremonies. YFP organizes in a regularly base eleven-day-long outreach workshops regarding Transitional Justice and Memory Culture which are conducted in seven provinces. The project promotes a lot of participation from the grassroot level and by doing so contributes in a sustainable way to the post conflict peace building process. During one year period more than 3000 people are trained. Several products were published like; the memory calendar Stories from the Ground Memorial Sites in Cambodia, The Youth Magazine and the Art Memory book Eyes on Darkness Paintings of Memory. To embed the activities into a wider context, YFP organizes an Annual six days Peace Youth Conference, with an average of 300 participants.

4 ART EXHIBITION AND PEACE THEATER I participated in the art workshop and painted about my husband who was killed in the Khmer Rouge regime. I was very happy because many participants and visitors were impressed by my painting. I have never expressed my story through such a painting before. So Phan, 60 YFP is a Cambodian NGO which applies alternative methods and works on the community level in the process of coming to terms with the past. The targeted people use art work as the tool for expressing their local violent histories and to critically envision for peace in the future. One module of the eleven-day-long outreach is the art workshops. During and after painting sessions, there is space for dialogue between generations. Through public exhibitions in the communities, the paintings are brought into a broader public context. During the exhibition day, YFP trained students perform their own Peace Theater play about how they understood the KR time and what kind of lessons they had learnt. Peace Theater has creative power to touch people s hearts and to evoke deep understanding. It is an innovative and effective conflict transformation tool that enables people to find new solutions in post conflict zones.

5 HEALING THROUGH BUDDHISM Around 90 % of the Cambodian believe in Buddhism, the monks play a key role as the mediators between victims and perpetrators. The most important aspect of Healing through Buddhism is the idea to involve young monks in the process of getting the former KR to talk about their past experience. Many of the former KR still hesitate to talk openly and give testimonies. The ten-day-long workshops are done in an interactive way, including a plurality of participatory methods. The topics include KR history, Transitional Justice mechanisms, monk peace building movements in Asia, the role of the monks in dealing with the former KR, and setting up actions plans for the monks to act as multipliers. I felt like walking in the desert, not having anymore water to drink and than the monk came and gave me some water, helping me to find ways to deal with my past. Former Khmer Rouge During a period of eight months, more than 500 young monks have been trained as multipliers. They are by now conducting their own workshops in the local communities about the topics they were trained in.

6 From Mass killing places to Peace building places I learnt a lot during this process. Now I know the buildings that used to be the prisons and torture house before. We made the map because through talking alone, the history will be lost. Through this map, I think the history will last longer and people will understand without explanation. What I like about this process is the cooperation of youth and monks. Prak Chanreth, 22, Monk YFP works in the former mass killing places and facilitates processes where local Memory Culture Committees have been set up, which are able to work independently in the topic of collective memory. Peace libraries have been established by the local people and youth. Wall paintings, wall maps (about the former killing places during KR time and the today s situation), information signs and boards are made through artistic research with participatory methods. By using artistic methods the results of research and memory become visible. Leading questions during the collective memory process are: What do you want to remember and why? What happened at this specific place during KR time? During the project, the youth have the opportunity to build up their perspectives towards the history. To create local memory places is a creative and interactive way of working in the direction towards symbolic reparations.

7 Intergenerational dialogue Since 2007 many intergenerational community dialogues have been carried out by YFP. It gives the youth and the elderly people the space to have a deep dialogue about their personal experiences during KR time, their feelings towards dealing with the past, and opens up a broader understanding about the consequences of the KR period. In the discussions, strategies come up how youth can take action in their communities regarding peace building topics. All of those who attended the eleven-day-long workshops in the provinces, about 250 participants each year are chosen to come to Phnom Penh and visit the former mass killing place Cheung Ek, the former KR prison Toul Sleng and ECCC. During the study tour, the intergenerational group has time to discuss and reflect their impressions. With the new gained knowledge, they are more empowered to work in their communities towards collective memory. I decided to tell my story as I am old and I believe that the young generation won t know about the Khmer Rouge if we don t tell them. Sari, 58, former Khmer Rouge

8 Voice of former Khmer Rouge I want victims to forgive me and other former Khmer Rouge who had low position during the regime. I used to be a chief, and I was forced to kill people. In 1975 I killed the prisoners if they refused to answer my questions. Phal, 59, former Khmer Rouge Until today the former Khmer Rouge don t dare to speak out as fear is still amongst them. YFP is addressing their problems by the radio program You Also Have a Chance. This radio program is an outreach program which caters to the forgotten needs of the former KR and their child soldiers. It aims to promote the understanding between the former KR, victims and youth in order to prevent violence to be passed on to the future generations. The radio program You Also Have a Chance, which is broadcasted once a week, and rebroadcast one more time every week assists to understand all sides of the complex KR history. The program encourages the former KR members to tell their hidden stories on air. Within the project, YFP produced the film Your Chance (25min) about the former child soldiers in Cambodia, Sudan and Liberia and how they deal with their crimes committed.

9 Killing Places Stories from the Ground There are about 343 former killing places containing over 19,440 mass graves in Cambodia. Some of these memory places have stupas with skulls as evidences of the KR time; some of the places are used as farmland today. On the sites without stupas, history is easily forgotten as nothing remains and reminds of the KR history. None of the local memory places displays detailed information about what really took place at those sites during the KR period. YFP brings the youth and the survivors to those places in order to provide space for remembrance, acknowledgement and discussion. These processes shall educe new ideas how to give these sites more significance for local history and remembrance. Furthermore, a calendar Stories from the Ground Memorial Sites in Cambodia 2010 has been published and provides an insight of the unknown stories around the former mass killing places.

10 EYES ON DARKNESS GOING PUBLIC This book Eyes on Darkness Paintings of Memory combines paintings, portraits and narratives experiences of the painters. It is the first ever art book that shows paintings of the survivor generations about their experiences during the Khmer Rouge period and thereby promoting an intergenerational dialogue through art. In addition, this book aims to shed more light on the dark history of Cambodia; its purpose is to break the silence of the human rights violations committed during the KR period to awake everybody to reflect on their own involvement in war crime and to speak the truth. It is also the first book that illustrates the images and narratives about the KR time done by young Cambodians who were born and grew up in Cambodia after the years of violence. How do the sufferings and violent memories live on in the mind of the next generation? What are these memories? This book stands against the repetition of such crimes against humanity not only in Cambodia, but all over the world.

11 FEEDBACK ON EYES ON DARKNESS While I was turning each page of the book, a French photographer took pictures of me and of almost every page of this book. Then he asked me to give him this book, so I decided to give it to him. This book is meaningful for me. In my own opinion, painting is a good medicine to cure the Khmer Rouge victims, while people know about how they suffered. We can not 100 percent rely on the ECCC for reconciliation, but we can find it by our own. Van Nath, 64 I will take this book with me when I go to tender my buffaloes. I usually go to look after my buffaloes with my friends. I will explain every story to them. Ean Chanly, 16 When I get back home, I as the Buddhist laymen, will raise some money. Then I will celebrate a commemoration. During this time, I will read my story and other stories to people who come to the celebration. I am so happy that I have this book. I will let other people know about this book. Mok Roeun, 66

12 CREDITS Concept: Photography: Texts: Felix Koltermann Kerstin Kastenholz Felix Koltermann Kerstin Kastenholz (6, 8, 9, 16) Kerstin Kastenholz Youth for Peace (YFP) Cambodia # 4 / 6 G, St. 513, Sangkat Beungkok 1, Khan Tuolkork, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia Director: Mr. Long Khet Website: admin@yfpcambodia.org director@yfpcambodia.org H / P: (0) Tel / Fax: (0) Funded by: Youth for Peace Staff 2010