Cambodia
Conflict-related sexual violence committed by Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979) remains mostly unacknowledged. Forced marriages were prevalent and were imposed on both men and women. Rape and sexualised torture were also widely committed.
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), established by Cambodia and the United Nations, sought to prosecute those responsible for the crimes committed during the regime’s rule, when an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people were killed. The tribunal acknowledged rape as a form of conflict-related sexual violence and a crime against humanity in the context of forced marriage, but did not include other violations – such as gang rape, sexual slavery, sexualised torture, sexual humiliation, forced pregnancy, and genital mutilation.
In 2022, GSF published a Global Reparations Study on Cambodia, exploring opportunities for reparations and identifying survivors’ needs and priorities. Based on these findings, we began an interim reparative measures project across three communes in Kampot province in 2024. We started with discussions with survivors, survivor activists, civil society organisations, lawyers, and officials from the Khmer Rouge tribunal, among others.
Project Partners
As the project progressed, survivors became very vocal, from never participating to actively participating in all activities. Now they are comfortable making decisions.
2022
236
SURVIVOR
PARTICIPANTS
82%
SURVIVORS REPORT A
SENSE OF JUSTICE
With many survivors now elderly, those who joined the project chose to involve their families in the project, asking for education for their grandchildren as part of their interim reparative measures. As in other locations, survivors also chose to receive financial compensation and personalised psychosocial support, including individual and private therapy sessions. A small number of survivors have also chosen to embark on testimonial therapy – an intensive, trauma-informed process to help them process their past.
With many survivors now elderly, those who joined the project chose to involve their families in the project, asking for education for their grandchildren as part of their interim reparative measures. As in other locations, survivors also chose to receive financial compensation and personalised psychosocial support, including individual and private therapy sessions. A small number of survivors have also chosen to embark on testimonial therapy – an intensive, trauma-informed process to help them process their past.
Despite their advanced age, survivors have continued to advocate for their needs through Old People Associations, facilitated by our partner HelpAge. The associations, run by survivor committees, function as self-help groups and adapt the project to the needs and limitations of older survivors. The associations elect their own managing members, who liaise with government ministries, support agricultural livelihood activities, and organise savings groups for survivors seeking to invest their financial compensation.
As our project draws to a close at the end of 2026, feedback so far from survivors has shown the positive impact of interim reparative measures on their lives. In 2025, 80% of survivors reported feeling significantly recognised, 81% experienced an increased sense of dignity, and 82% reported an enhanced sense of justice through their involvement in the programme.