REACTION ON POL POT & THE KILLING FIELDS OF CAMBODIA

When we got this subject to do as a project, I remember that I never heard of it before so I thought that Pol Pot and the killing fields of Cambodia was a minor crisis. However when I did more reasearch I realized how horrible and inhuman Pol Pot and his goverment was. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge killed 1/3 of the Cambodian population, that does not include the amount of people that were tortured. As I reasearch more facts, I began to ask questions such as " Why didn't countries neighboring Cambodia do anything to stop Pol Pot?" During my research I read that Pol Pot ran away when Vietman invaded Cambodia, he also died of natural causes, this man was regarded as another Hitler why would anyone let him live so long for him to die of natural causes?

I was also surprised when I read the S-21 a Cambodian interrogation camp used to be a high school. S-21 used to be a place for education and socializing, as Pol pot rose to power it became a place of torture and fear. In S- 21 the prison regulations were cruel, for example when getting whipped or electrification the prisoner was not allowed to cry; this is impossible and when the prisoner did cry they would get lashes with electrical wire. I can't believe that the goverment would treat their citizens like that, how could one man and his goverment hurt 1.5 million people?

The I couldn't believe most was that Pol Pot decided to destroy any institutions or organization, this included families, schools, religous groups, and other jobs and groups. Pol Pot also didnt show mercy to children, about 2000 children went to the interrogation camp S-21. This surprised me because even Hitler found a use for children by training them as soldiers, but the horrifying thing about Pol Pot is that he killed and tortured most of the children. I was disgusted by how Pol Pot used the idea of communism and twisted it to his own violent belief. In communism everything is equal, and because of this there is no individualism; it is like a idea of conformity. However in Cambodia when Pol Pot decided to "purify" the society, millions of citizens were killed for no reason, there was no equality; while citizens slept in prisons the Cambodian offficals slept in warm houses.

During this project thought " where is the U.N and why aren't they doing anything?" Pol Pot was stopped by vietman not the U.N. A crisis like this is why the U.N was created, if they did do their job, thousands of Cambodian people could have been saved. The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot probably broke all of the regulations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for example rules such as "everyone has a right to life, liberty, and security of person." or " No one shall he subjected to torture or to cruel' inhuman, or degrading treatment, or punishment." These and more rules were broken by Pol Pot. I thought that the U.N was reliable and that they would react when some thing like the crisis in Cambodia happens.

While I worked on this project I learned alot about how inhumanly a person could treat another. I also realized that this crisis is not that old it could happen again in any country. There are alot more horrifying things going around in the world, even in our time; even if we dont hear about it we shouldnt regard it as a minor crisis because it could cost millions of lives. In conclusion I felt terrified that a person could kill and manipulate people to a point when 1.5 million people die. I also feel pity for those who lost their lives in this crisis.