IB History Cambodians Fleeing the Khmer Rouge, Including the Chams Notes

Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge: Genocide Drove Displacement on a Massive Scale

1. The Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia on 17 April 1975.
   1. Within hours, they began evacuating Phnom Penh and every other major city.
   2. The entire urban population was forced into the countryside at gunpoint to work on collective farms.
   3. The regime abolished money, private property, religion, and formal education.

The scale of killing under Democratic Kampuchea

1. Between 1975 and 1979, an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians died out of a total population of roughly 7 million.
   1. People died from execution, forced labour, starvation, and disease.
   2. The regime called this period Year Zero, meaning a complete restart of Cambodian society.
2. The Khmer Rouge specifically targeted intellectuals, professionals, former government officials, military officers, Buddhist monks, and ethnic minorities.
   1. Wearing glasses or speaking a foreign language could be enough to mark someone for execution.
   2. The regime's security apparatus, centred on the S-21 (Tuol Sleng) prison in Phnom Penh, tortured and killed an estimated 17,000 people.

The Cham: a Muslim minority targeted for destruction

1. The Cham were a Muslim minority of roughly 250,000 people.
   1. The Khmer Rouge viewed their distinct religious identity as a threat to the goal of a uniform Khmer society.
   2. The regime forced the Cham to abandon Islam, banned the Quran, and prohibited the use of the Cham language.
2. Many Cham villages were destroyed entirely.
   1. Cham communities were broken up and dispersed among ethnic Khmer populations to prevent them from maintaining their identity.
   2. Those who resisted were executed.
   3. An estimated 36% of the total Cham population was killed during the Khmer Rouge period.
3. The targeting of the Cham is one reason scholars classify the Khmer Rouge period as genocide rather than solely politicide.
   1. The regime did not only kill political opponents.
   2. It deliberately tried to destroy an ethnic and religious group.

The Vietnamese invasion and mass flight to Thailand

1. Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978 and captured Phnom Penh in January 1979.
   1. The Khmer Rouge regime collapsed, and its forces retreated to the jungles along the Thai-Cambodian border.
   2. The invasion ended the genocide but triggered a new wave of displacement.
2. By 1980, more than 600,000 Cambodians had gathered in camps along the Thai-Cambodian border.
   1. Many were starving, sick, and traumatized.
   2. The scale of the crisis forced an international humanitarian response, with the UN and NGOs establishing feeding programs and medical clinics.

Life in the Thai-Cambodian border camps

1. The border camps were not neutral spaces.
   1. Different Cambodian political factions controlled different camps.
   2. Some camps, like Site Two, were administered by non-communist resistance groups.
   3. Others were controlled by remnant Khmer Rouge forces, who used the camps as bases for ongoing guerrilla warfare against the Vietnamese-backed government in Phnom Penh.
2. The Khao-I-Dang camp, located inside Thailand, was the main processing centre for Cambodians seeking resettlement in third countries.
   1. It operated from 1979 to 1993 and at its peak held over 100,000 people.
   2. Conditions were overcrowded but generally safer than the border camps.
3. Many Cambodians spent over a decade in these camps.
   1. Children grew up knowing nothing but camp life.
   2. The long wait for resettlement or repatriation created deep psychological harm on top of the trauma already caused by the Khmer Rouge period.

Long-term displacement and return

1. The Cambodian refugee crisis was not resolved until the early 1990s.
   1. In 1989, Vietnam withdrew its occupying forces from Cambodia, clearing the way for the peace process that followed.
   2. The 1991 Paris Peace Accords led to a UN-supervised repatriation program.
   3. Between 1992 and 1993, roughly 360,000 Cambodians were repatriated from the border camps.
2. The specific UN mission that managed this repatriation was UNTAC (United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia), which operated from 1992 to 1993.
   1. UNTAC oversaw the return of approximately 360,000 refugees from Thai border camps, organized elections, and monitored the ceasefire between Cambodian factions.
   2. It was one of the largest and most complex UN peacekeeping operations of the early post-Cold War period.
3. Returning refugees faced a devastated country.
   1. Infrastructure, education systems, and professional classes had been destroyed.
   2. For the Cham, return meant rebuilding religious and cultural institutions from almost nothing.
   3. The long-term effects of this displacement shaped Cambodian society for generations.