Three former torture and execution sites used by Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime have been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, recognizing their transformation “from centres of repression to places of peace and reflection.”
Historic milestone
The sites were inscribed Friday during the 47th Session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris, shortly after the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge’s rise to power in April 1975. Cambodia held ceremonies across the country Sunday to celebrate the recognition, with Prime Minister Hun Manet directing people to simultaneously beat drums.
The inscription represents Cambodia’s fifth World Heritage listing and its first modern-era nomination among the earliest globally tied to recent conflict. Previously, UNESCO had recognized only seven “sites of memory” associated with recent conflicts under its criterion vi. The World Heritage Committee decided in 2023 to no longer preclude such sites for inscription, partly recognizing how these sites may “serve the peace-building mission of UNESCO.”
About the sites
The three sites document the systematic violence of the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979, when an estimated 1.7 million to 2.2 million people died from starvation, torture and execution. The Tuol Sleng prison, known as S-21, held approximately 15,000 prisoners in a former high school and now operates as a genocide museum. Meanwhile, the M-13 prison in rural Kampong Chhnang province was where the Khmer Rouge developed their security techniques before seizing full power. Choeung Ek, located about 15 kilometers south of Phnom Penh, functioned as an execution site and mass grave, immortalized in the 1984 Hollywood film “The Killing Fields.”
The sites have been preserved and memorialized since the regime’s fall, with the Tuol Sleng Museum maintaining extensive archives documented by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
The “darkest chapters”
“This is a model for the world, showing the long struggle of Cambodia, reconciliation, the spirit of national unity, finding justice for the victims and building peace,” interim Culture Minister Hab Touch said in Paris.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hun Manet emphasized in a video message, “May this inscription serve as a lasting reminder that peace must always be defended. From the darkest chapters of history, we can draw strength to build a better future for humanity.”
This story is part of The Rebel Yellow Newsletter — a bold weekly newsletter from the creators of NextShark, reclaiming our stories and celebrating Asian American voices.
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