[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 170 (Friday, November 21, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2386]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING VICTIMS OF CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE THAT TOOK PLACE FROM APRIL 1975 
                            TO JANUARY 1979

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 19, 2003

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support 
of H. Con. Res. 83 which honors the victims of the Cambodian Genocide. 
Truly, this recognition is overdue for a people who suffered for so 
long under the brutal dictatorship of Pol Pot. It is unfortunate that 
the plight of the Cambodian people has not been more recognized in the 
United States. I want to thank Rep. Millender-McDonald for introducing 
this legislation which affects not only the large Cambodian population 
in her district, but so many Cambodian people throughout the world who 
were forced to leave their homeland due to the brutalization they 
faced.
  Mr. Speaker, the fact that between April 1975 and January 1979, up to 
3 million Cambodians were deliberately and systematically killed shows 
the depth of suffering that the Cambodian people had to endure. Not 
only were scores of people brutally killed but they had to suffer 
through a vicious system of forced labor. In 1975, Pol Pot led the 
Communist guerilla group, the Khmer Rouge, in a large-scale insurgency 
in Cambodia that resulted in the removal of Cambodians from their homes 
and into labor camps in an attempt to restructure Khmer society. The 
Khmer Rouge maintained control by mass public tortures and executions. 
Families were separated. Men, women and young children were sent into 
labor camps and forced to do strenuous farm work with very little food. 
Famine and disease were epidemic while health care was non-existent. 
Literally these Cambodians were put through hell in order to maintain 
Pol Pot's hold on the nation.
  We as a body must try to ensure that events like the Cambodian 
Genocide never go unnoticed again. Too many lives were lost and many of 
those who were killed were simply disposed of by the regime, in their 
effort to ensure that the victims would be forgotten. This resolution 
demonstrates that the victims of the Cambodian Genocide will not be 
forgotten by this Congress or by anyone of conscious. Many of those who 
suffered during the Cambodian Genocide are now residing in the United 
States. They are a living testament to the fact that brutality can not 
crush the spirit of even the most oppressed people.

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