Cambodian genocide sites added to World Heritage list
The locations reflect the human rights abuses of the hardline Maoist group and widespread violence that took place in Cambodia from 1971 to 1979, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said in a statement.
The three sites include the former M-13 prison in Kampong Chhnang province, where the Khmer Rouge devised the repression and execution techniques that they would later use on a mass scale. Today the site is just a patch of derelict land.
The other two sites are located in Phnom Penh: the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (former S-21 prison) and the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (the former 'killing field' where S-21 prisoners were executed). All have been preserved and memorialised since the regime's fall.
The Tuol Sleng Museum maintains extensive archives and collections related to the period.
Led by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge reset the calendar to 'Year Zero' on April 17, 1975 and emptied cities in a bid to create a pure agrarian society free of class, politics or capital.
Around two million people died of starvation, forced labour or torture or were slaughtered in mass killings between 1975 and 1979. (Story continues below)
'May this inscription serve as a lasting reminder that peace must always be defended,' Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a video message aired by the state-run broadcaster TVK.
'From the darkest chapters of history, we can draw strength to build a better future for humanity.'
A number of other sites worldwide were inscribed on the Unesco list on Friday, among them the Xixia Imperial Tombs in the foothills of the southern Helan Mountains in Ningxia, China; the Forest Research Institute at Malaysia Forest Park Selangor near Kuala Lumpur; and the Murujuga Cultural Landscape of ancient rocks located in northwestern Australia.
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