Cambodia marks UNESCO recognition of Khmer Rouge sites as places of ‘peace and reflection’

By Chandha Lach

Phnom Penh (Reuters) -Kambodia organized ceremonies throughout Sunday to celebrate UNESCO’s recognition of three former Khmer Rouge sites as a world heritage, and honored their transformation from printing centers to peace and reflection places.

The Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh and Choeung Ek were written as “Cambodian Monument Sites: Print centers to peace and reflection places” during a UNESCO meeting in Paris on Friday, M-13 prison in the province of Kampong Chhnang.

“This is a model for the world to find the long struggle of Cambodia, the spirit of national unity, to find justice for the victims and to build peace.” He said.

Khmer Rouge sites point to the fifth world heritage list of Cambodia and depend on the country’s first modern era nomination and recent conflicts.

Sites are a definite reminder of the atrocities committed under the Pol Pot regime from 1975 to 1979, while about 1.7 million to 2.2 million people die, many of them are hunger, torture or execution.

Tuol Sleng Prison, which is about 15,000 prisoners, is currently a genocide museum.

(Reporting by Chandha Lach; Editing by Michael Perry)