English/Global Matt Snyder
10th grade paper
Human Rights are the privileges that men and women deserve as human beings
and are necessary for life. These are the rights that all humans deserve as citizens and that
are essential for life as a human being. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights say
that all humans deserve rights, no matter what their race, religious beliefs, their
background.
From 1975 to 1979 Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge killed nearly twenty- one
percent of the population in Cambodia. The main goal of the Khmer Rouge was to
eliminate all of the educated people. Pol Pot personally targeted the Buddhists. Pol Pot
and the Khmer Rouge killed an estimated 1.7 million people in only four years. In
January of 1979, just before the beginning of the Cold War, the Vietnamese military
invaded Cambodia and kicked out the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot to end the mass killings
four years later. Eventually in the 1990’s Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were put on trial.
In 1999 Pol Pot died of natural causes, just before he could be put on trial.
Pol Pot led a regime to eliminate everyone who was against him and who was
against following communism. He came into power in 1975 and that is when he built
the Khmer Rouge. The Regime lasted for almost four years and killed nearly 1.7 million
people. Pol Pot’s regime took place all over Cambodia and they eliminated nearly 21% of
Cambodia’s population. He had fields where hard labor was done, and that he called the
"killing fields."
Men, women and children were forced to work, no matter what age. They were
subjected to twelve to fifteen hours, of work a day with only one meal a day sometimes
even two.
They were given a watery porridge and that was it. Sometimes they were not
given anything due to not working fast enough. City workers like lawyers, doctors,
teachers, engineers, scientists and professionals of any kind, even including the military,
were eliminated first because they were not used to such hard labor and they were killed
on the spot.
One of Pol Pot’s most famous lines was "To spare you is no profit, to destroy you
is no loss." {Halsall} Many of the elderly said that death was the only treatment because
everyone was forced to work age nor medical issues did not matter. A school teacher
wrote this" While we were tied up with our hands behind our backs one was able to break
free and untie eleven others. While one tried to kill the guard on the back the guards in
front heard us. The others who were untied jumped off the back of the wagon and dived
into the Mongkol Boeri River by the road and the other eight were killed on the spot."
[Halsall]
A count clerk said that one day when he was out working his group heard cries far
away. He said " I saw a young man approach us with bullet holes in him and his arms
were still tied behind his back." The young man was shot because he left his group to go
search for food.[ Halsall]
The killing fields were where people had to do harsh labor and were shot,
beaten, or tortured for simply slowing down in work pace. Pol Pot’s famous killing field
was the field of Choeng Ek. Today there is a glass memorial which holds eight thousand
skulls of dead people. There were surrounding trees which contained "nooses" where the
prisoners were hung or tortured, whatever the Khmer Rouge decided. Most city workers
were the ones who died first because they were not used to the hard labor and the
extremely long hours. Many died within the first couple of weeks, from exhaustion and
starvation.
During the four year regime the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot violated many human
rights laws but they did not seem to care as they continued the mass killings. The
first violation was: Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment. Many young
children were taken into custody and were beaten and tortured until they told The Khmer
Rouge what the regime wanted to hear. Some of the children didn’t know what to tell
them so they were killed on the spot.
The next major violation was of the right that Everyone has the right to work no
matter what religion or race. Pol Pot made every person work no matter of their age, race,
religion or medical issues. Everyone was forced to work. Whoever refused was killed on
the spot. Buddhists were subjected to even harder labor and longer hours and the Khmer
Rouge managed to kill over half of them.
Another violation was the Right of peaceful Assembly and Association.
All religion was wiped out and they specifically meant the Buddhists. Also everyone
who was educated were immediately killed. Most of the educated died rather quickly
because many of them could not handle the long hours, few breaks, and starvation. Most
of the educated people tried to outlast the exhaustion and the starvation but it seemed to
catch up with them quickly.
In January of 1979 The Vietnamese Military invaded and kicked out Pol Pot and
The Khmer Rouge. Unfortunately, they were stopped too late and after they had taken the
lives of 1.7 million people. At the end of the Cold War the remaining of the Khmer
Rouge and Pol Pot were put on trial. In 1999, Just before Pol Pot could be put on trial, he
died in his home of natural causes. After Pol Pot’s death the remaining of the still
living Khmer Rouge surrendered and they were eventually put on trial. They were later
convicted for what they had done.
In 1991 the Cambodian Government proposed a treaty calling for the United
Nations to supervise all elections disarming 70% of all the forces. This new movement
carried out the "guerrilla" war against the new government with a great active backing
from China. After the new movement had been made the remaining of the Khmer Rouge
was put on trial. When Pol Pot died in 1999 the government had to now focus on the
remaining members of the Khmer Rouge.
I do not believe that it was right that the Cambodian government acted like
nothing was happening. They should have been trying to stop Pol Pot as soon as they
heard of what was going on. I think that the government should have had Pol Pot
on trial as soon as the Vietnamese military kicked out the regime. The government waited
and then Pol Pot died so all they could do was to put the remaining Khmer Rouge on
trial.
I also believe that the government knew what was going on but they may have
been trying to act like nothing was happening. Even if that is what they were doing they
should have tried to step in because killing people for not believing in something is
wrong. I don’t believe that the government did everything they could have done when Pol
Pot was kicked out. Instead, they waited until the 1990’s, almost eleven years after the
regime was ended.
The Khmer Rouge stormed through Cambodia in 1975 and they lasted until 1979
and killed nearly 1.7 million people, almost 21% of Cambodia’s population, until they
were stopped in 1979. Also many people caused a major controversy over killing people
based on race, religious beliefs. The Cambodian government did nothing to step in and
end the mass killings. If only the government would have stepped in and stopped Pol Pot
when they first heard the news. Then they may have been able to save a few lives instead
of killing 1.7 million people.