Interviews on Peace, Justice and Reconciliation

Theary Seng being interviewed for a profile documentary film by students at the Department of Media & Communications funded by DED, screened all over Phnom Penh, 2006.

Making a Difference – Cambodia’s Theary Seng Works to Heal Her Country (2 July 2008, Voice of America film)

Q&A: 'Khmer Rouge Trials Important for All Humanity' (31 March 2009, Inter-Press Service)

A Discussion with Theary Seng, Founder, Cambodian Center for Justice & Reconciliation and CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education (Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University, 17 Sept. 2010).  At KI-Media.

Theary Seng at home in Phnom Penh, 16 Dec. 2010

"I have espoused Christianity as my own. Part of it was the initial exposure through Christian education, living in a Christian community. But I read a lot. I’ve read probably as much as any theologian on Christianity. So when I say I’ve come to own it, come to espouse it on my own, it’s not just through exposure but by deliberately thinking it through. So I would describe myself as a Christian, a Christian who is culturally Buddhist. I have no problem going to a wat or celebrating the Buddhist ceremonies, for example. Although it’s not a belief system that I hold, it is my culture..."

"Right now, we (Cambodians) learn about citizenship as a concept, but haven’t yet translated that to identify how we are citizens. The basic way that we define a citizen is as a person with rights and responsibilities. Now the shift should be towards responsibility; not only the political rights and responsibilities but also the social rights and responsibilities. Up until now civil society and the human rights community have only been focusing on one tier of people: the high school and the adult populations. With civic responsibility we have to go younger. If we want to form habits we need to start early..."

"So CJR is focusing on reconciliation and CIVICUS is focusing on civic education. Soon these will merge in the learning centers. We are pushing for them in the provinces. Victims (of the Khmer Rouge) establish the learning centers, and through them they will continue the legacy of the Khmer Rouge tribunals, including housing the documentation...CIVICUS aims to encourage this because, in the process, we will be creating forums for civic conversation. That’s ultimately what dialogues are: citizens coming together and having conversations. It’s no longer a one way street, it’s a multifaceted dialogue of everyone coming together and contributing ideas and creating a sort of forum for ideas..."

Full interview

Theary Seng, la voix des victimes du régime khmer rouge (18 April 2009, front page of Liberation)

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal: Cambodia’s Healing Process (30 Nov. 2009, TIME Magazine)

Theary Seng's Interview by praCh Ly's Mujestic

Theary Seng enjoying dinner at home with friends (Phnom Penh, 29 Aug. 2010).

"I am a free human being grateful to be alive and disturbingly, restlessly challenged in this at once despicable, ethereal, ephemeral world of devastating cruelty and sublime beauty..."

"The prosecution of these individuals offers a strand of legal justice to me.  Other forms of justice have taken place in my soul, one being the process of learning to forgive, an act independent of a prosecution..."

"I entered the human rights field as a natural progression of and response to who I am as a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide, a Christian bestowed with great opportunities and blessings, and a human being who desires more than just success but significance..."

"Any act of intimidation, any threat, any form of violence is fundamentally COWARDICE.  And I refuse to give credence or energy to cowards, little boys in men’s clothing pretending to exercise power.  I believe in the strength and justice of moral power over physical, brute power.  As Martin Luther King, Jr. articulated, the long arc of history bends toward justice and I want to take part in the bending; fear paralyzes and inhibits.  So it is best to focus on the bending “toward justice” and not focus on the cowardice of others..." (Excerpts).

Full interview

NomiNetwork Interview with Theary Seng on Sex Trafficking; Profile of Theary Seng (10 Oct. 2010)

Filming by KMF for CTN broadcasting of conversations, led by Theary Seng, among local partners who assisted to disseminate and to screen "Time for Justice" film series (March 2008).

Theary Seng leading the discussion with local partners who assisted to disseminate the Time for Justice film series across Cambodia, aired on Cambodian Television Network (CTN)

More photos . . .

Judging Genocide on ABC (Australia) Foreign Correspondent and CNN World Untold Stories (July 2007)

HardTalk on BBC (October 2005)

Theary Seng on BBC's HardTalk with Sarah Montague (London Studio, October 2005)