Veil lifting on cadres’ unwanted weddings, forced marriage under KR regime

For years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the issue of forced marriage remained understudied, misunderstood and taboo. Now interviews with researchers, lawyers and survivors suggest that is changing – marked by a new exhibition at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

A among the Khmer Rouge’s many crimes, one of its most insidious was the nationwide policy of forced marriage – a strategy designed both to break down its victims psychologically and to supply the state with a new population of workers. There are no reliable statistics on how many couples were forced to marry. Only one photograph of a forced-marriage ceremony – a union between two Khmer Rouge cadres – is known to exist.

But in present-day Cambodia, the effects of the marriages are still far-reaching, and multigenerational. “It was a widespread policy,” explained Farina So, a researcher at DC-Cam. “It didn’t take place in one area. It happened everywhere.” Marriages frequently involved violent rape under the threat of punishment from cadres, who spied on couples on the first night, So said. The trauma was long lasting, and women especially were reluctant to speak about it.

LONG ARTICLE TO BE READ HERE

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/veil-lifting-cadres-unwanted-weddings