Germany is one of the prominent donors who support the operation of the UN-assisted Khmer Rouge Tribunal. This comes as the country had also experienced one of the most traumatic history of mankind, the holocaust during WWII. The country had additionally pledged $2.4 million in 2008 to finance the activities of the tribunal’s victim support unit, which aims to protect victims’ right and make their voices heard. During his speech on 10 July 2014 at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, German Ambassador Joachim Baron von Marschal said “… in this spirit of a shared past and a shared future that Germany engages in the work of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal and as well as the Victims Support Section. The two belong together…both the court and the victims (the later through the reparations program) continue to have Germany’s financial support. Germany supports the Reparations Program 2013-2017 because we recognize that it is an important cornerstone of the Tribunal’s meaningful activities to compensate the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime and to support the Cambodian people in dealing with their traumatic recent past.” The Ambassador also emphasized the collective responsibility of Germans to preserve and share the knowledge of these horrors across the generations and across continents to help secure a better future.
During IJ Clinic’s pilot program in 2014, the two students were able to meet and discuss with the Ambassador a range of issues, including Germany’s post-holocaust education and funds to assist victims who suffered under the Nazi regime.
For more information relating to the German Embassy, please visit:http://www.phnom-penh.diplo.de/Vertretung/phnompenh/en/Startseite.html
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