MORE than 400 Kandal and Kampong Speu high school students are set to visit the ECCC to learn about the crimes that took place under the Khmer Rouge regime in a move facilitated by an outreach office of the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam).

Sayana Ser, DC-Cam team leader, said that prior to their visit, which has been scheduled for September 25, the students will be briefed about the regime that killed approximately 1.7 million Cambodians by Youk Chhang, director of DC-Cam, and Vann Nath, a survivor of Tuol Sleng prison.

Learning experience  

"Our aim is to make the young generation understand the KR tribunal process and the history of the genocide," Sayana said. "We believe that many high school students lack knowledge about KR history so we will also take them to visit Tuol Sleng (S-21) and Choeung Ek Genocide Museum."

Reach Sambath, spokesman for the ECCC, told the Post that more than 20,000 national and international visitors have come through the doors of the ECCC under the support of DC-Cam since February 2006.

"We found that there was a big gap in knowledge about the regime between the young generation and the old generation," he said. "We consider that the ECCC is their court, therefore, they need to know about it."

Kaing Geuk Eav, or Duch, the former director of S-21 who has been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, is expected to stand trial at the ECCC in October.