[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1109 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1109

  Honoring the memory of Dith Pran by remembering his life's work and 
 continuing to acknowledge and remember the victims of genocides that 
                   have taken place around the globe.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 15, 2008

Mr. Sires submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Honoring the memory of Dith Pran by remembering his life's work and 
 continuing to acknowledge and remember the victims of genocides that 
                   have taken place around the globe.

Whereas Dith Pran was born on September 23, 1942, in Siem Reap, Cambodia, a 
        provincial town near the ancient temples at Angkor Wat;
Whereas Mr. Dith, a photojournalist and human rights advocate, became the face 
        of the atrocities in Cambodia carried out by the Khmer Rouge;
Whereas Mr. Dith learned French and English in school and became a translator of 
        Khmer for the United States Armed Forces and visiting film crews while 
        he worked as a receptionist at a hotel near Angkor Wat prior to the 
        escalation of the Vietnam War;
Whereas, during much of the early 1970s, Mr. Dith was a guide, interpreter, and 
        friend of Sydney H. Schanberg of the New York Times;
Whereas the friendship and partnership between Mr. Dith and Mr. Schanberg became 
        the basis for the 1984 film, ``The Killing Fields'', which showed the 
        brutality perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979 under Pol 
        Pot;
Whereas nearly 2,000,000 Cambodians died from 1975 to 1979 at the hands of the 
        Khmer Rouge;
Whereas Mr. Dith saved Mr. Schanberg and other Western journalists from being 
        executed by persuading Khmer Rouge soldiers that they were journalists 
        sympathetic to the Khmer Rouge cause;
Whereas Mr. Dith's wife and children were able to leave Cambodia for the United 
        States through Mr. Schanberg's connections, but Mr. Dith was unable to 
        obtain a passport or visa to leave the country;
Whereas, for four years, Mr. Dith disguised himself as a peasant, worked in rice 
        fields, and endured regular beatings and harsh labor while living on a 
        diet of a tablespoon of rice a day because the Khmer Rouge would often 
        kill anyone who appeared educated or even wore glasses;
Whereas, in November 1978, Mr. Dith returned to his home of Siem Reap, and 
        discovered that 50 members of his family had been killed;
Whereas Mr. Dith fled 60 miles to the border of Thailand and arrived, on October 
        3, 1979, where Mr. Schanberg flew to greet him;
Whereas Mr. Dith had an emotional reunion with his wife, Ser Moeun Dith, and 
        their four children when he arrived in San Francisco;
Whereas Mr. Dith moved to New York, New York, and was hired in 1980 as a 
        photographer for The New York Times;
Whereas Mr. Dith was a tireless activist speaking out about the Cambodian 
        genocide and once stating, ``I'm a one person crusade'';
Whereas soon after the release of the film ``The Killing Fields'', Mr. Dith 
        became a United States citizen and a goodwill ambassador for the United 
        Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;
Whereas, in 1994, Mr. Dith worked to help pass the Cambodian Genocide Justice 
        Act of 1994, sponsored by former Senator Charles Robb of Virginia, which 
        established an Office of Cambodian Genocide Investigations at the 
        Department of State;
Whereas, on March 30, 2008, Mr. Dith, a resident of Woodbridge, New Jersey, 
        passed away at the age of 65;
Whereas the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project was established to create 
        awareness about the Cambodian genocide: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) honors the life and legacy of Mr. Dith for his 
        commitment to raising awareness about the atrocities that took 
        place under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia;
            (2) recognizes his courage and his endless pursuit for 
        justice for the victims of the Cambodian genocide and all 
        peoples around the world who have been victims of genocide; and
            (3) honors the memory of Mr. Dith by remembering his life's 
        work and continuing to acknowledge and remember the victims of 
        genocides that have taken place around the world.
                                 <all>