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Child soldiers were used by the Khmer Rouge and other armed groups during the Cambodian Civil War, Cambodian genocide, and insurgent armed conflict into the late 1990s. [1] [2]
There is substantial evidence that tens of thousands of children were indoctrinated and forced to participate in warfare and commit atrocities by the Khmer Rouge. [1] Other factions of the conflict also conscripted children. Child soldiers were used by the Lon Nol army in the Khmer Republic. [3] In the 1990s, Licadho published reports of child soldiers within the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF). [3] Members of the RCAF who joined as children were permitted to remain in the institution after civil conflict ended and they entered adulthood. [1] Efforts at demobilisation of children took place in the 1990s. [2] Former Khmer Rouge child soldiers received little state support in the 21st century. [1]
The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by then Chief of State Norodom Sihanouk to describe his country's heterogeneous, communist-led dissidents, with whom he allied after the 1970 Cambodian coup d'état.
Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Mainland Southeast Asia. It borders Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline along the Gulf of Thailand on the southwest. It spans an area of 181,035 square kilometres, and has a population of about 17 million. Its capital and most populous city is Phnom Penh.
The Cambodian Civil War was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea against the government forces of the Kingdom of Cambodia and, after October 1970, the Khmer Republic, which had succeeded the kingdom.
The Cambodian–Vietnamese War was an armed conflict between Democratic Kampuchea, controlled by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The war began with repeated attacks by the Liberation Army of Kampuchea on the southwestern border of Vietnam, particularly the Ba Chúc massacre which resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 Vietnamese civilians. On 23 December 1978, 10 out of 19 of the Khmer Rouge's military divisions opened fire along the border with Vietnam with the goal of invading the Vietnamese provinces of Đồng Tháp, An Giang and Kiên Giang. On 25 December 1978, Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion of Kampuchea, occupying the country in two weeks and removing the government of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from power. In doing so, Vietnam put an ultimate stop to the Cambodian genocide, which had most likely killed between 1.2 million and 2.8 million people — or between 13 and 30 percent of the country’s population.
The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces is Cambodia's national military force. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief is King Norodom Sihamoni. Since 2018, General Vong Pisen has been the Commander-in-Chief of the RCAF as head of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Gendarmerie. The armed forces operate under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defence. Under the country's constitution, the RCAF is charged with protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Aki Ra is a former Khmer Rouge conscripted child soldier who works as a deminer and museum curator in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He has devoted his life to removing landmines in Cambodia and to caring for young landmine victims. Aki Ra states that since 1992 he has personally removed and destroyed as many as 50,000 landmines, and is the founder of the Cambodian Landmine Museum.
Democratic Kampuchea was the Cambodian state from 1975 to 1979, under the totalitarian dictatorship of Pol Pot and the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), commonly known as the Khmer Rouge. It was established following the Khmer Rouge's capture of the capital Phnom Penh, effectively ending the United States-backed Khmer Republic of Lon Nol. After Vietnam took Phnom Penh in 1979, it was disestablished in 1982 with the creation of the CGDK in its place.
Anlong Veng is a district (srok) in Oddar Meanchey province in Cambodia. The main town in the district is also called Anlong Veng. The population of the district could not be counted during the 1998 census of Cambodia due to ongoing conflict during the time of the census. It is estimated that 35% of the population in Anlong Veng were former Khmer Rouge soldiers including the Maoist dictator Pol Pot.
The National Army of Democratic Kampuchea (NADK) was a Cambodian guerrilla force. NADK were the armed forces of the Party of Democratic Kampuchea also known as "Khmer Rouge", operating between 1979 and the late 1990s.
Meas Sophea is a senior general in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF). He is a former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the RCAF and chief of the Royal Cambodian Army.
The People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) was a partially recognised state in Southeast Asia which existed from 1979 to 1989. It was a satellite state of Vietnam, founded in Cambodia by the Vietnamese-backed Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, a group of Cambodian communists who were dissatisfied with the Khmer Rouge due to its oppressive rule and defected from it after the overthrow of Democratic Kampuchea, Pol Pot's government. Brought about by an invasion from Vietnam, which routed the Khmer Rouge armies, it had Vietnam and the Soviet Union as its main allies.
PrinceNorodom Chantaraingsey was a member of the Cambodian royal family and a Cambodian nationalist. Initially a leader of the guerrilla resistance against the colonial French, he went on to become a prominent general in the Khmer National Armed Forces (FANK) during the Cambodian Civil War, as well as a businessman and occasional writer.
The 1997 Cambodian coup d'état took place in Cambodia from July to September 1997. As a result, co-premier Hun Sen ousted the other co-premier Norodom Ranariddh. At least 32 people were killed during the coup.
The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), also known as the Khmer Communist Party, was a far-left communist party in Cambodia. Its leader was Pol Pot, and its members were generally known as the Khmer Rouge. Originally founded in 1951, the party was split into pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet factions as a result of the Sino–Soviet split with the former being the Pol Pot faction, and the latter adopting a more revisionist approach to Marxism. As such, it claimed that 30 September 1960 was its founding date; it was named the Workers' Party of Kampuchea before it was renamed the Communist Party in 1966.
The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, commonly known by its French acronym LICADHO, is a national Cambodian human rights non-governmental organization (NGO) established in 1992. It is based in Phnom Penh and also operates 12 provincial offices. LICADHO's activities focus on monitoring human rights violations, providing legal representation to victims of human rights abuses and providing humanitarian assistance to victims of human rights abuses. The organization also monitors 18 Cambodian prisons and has specialized programs for the protection of women's rights and children's rights. LICADHO is regularly cited in the Cambodian media for stories on local human rights issues. The organization has also received international coverage for its work to combat human trafficking and prisons, and has been particularly vocal in highlighting Cambodia's land-grabbing crisis since 2003. Current LICADHO director Naly Pilorge has authored a number of op-eds in major international media outlets publicizing the human rights situation in Cambodia. LICADHO was the sole Cambodian rights organization invited to testify at a 2013 US House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on Cambodia's "looming political and social crisis".
The Cambodian genocide was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodian citizens by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea, Pol Pot. It resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people from 1975 to 1979, nearly 25% of Cambodia's population in 1975.
The fall of Phnom Penh was the capture of Phnom Penh, capital of the Khmer Republic, by the Khmer Rouge on 17 April 1975, effectively ending the Cambodian Civil War. At the beginning of April 1975, Phnom Penh, one of the last remaining strongholds of the Khmer Republic, was surrounded by the Khmer Rouge and totally dependent on aerial resupply through Pochentong Airport.
Children in the military are children who are associated with military organizations, such as state armed forces and non-state armed groups. Throughout history and in many cultures, children have been involved in military campaigns. For example, thousands of children participated on all sides of the First World War and the Second World War. Children may be trained and used for combat, assigned to support roles such as porters or messengers, or used for tactical advantage as human shields or for political advantage in propaganda.
Ke Kim Yan is the former Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Armed Forces of Cambodia and currently one of the ten Deputy Prime Ministers of Cambodia. He is considered as a "highly professional officer with a realistic approach to the challenges before him".
The battle of Pailin also known as the Siege of Pailin is an armed conflict which extended from 1989 to 1997 as the last military act of the Cambodian Civil War which took place in the Northwest of Cambodia in the last military stronghold of the Khmer Rouge.
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