[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 83 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 83
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 20, 2003
Received and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Honoring the victims of the Cambodian genocide that took place from
April 1975 to January 1979.
Whereas beginning in April 1975 and ending in January 1979 at least 1,700,000 to
3,000,000 people were deliberately and systematically killed in Cambodia
in one of the worst human tragedies of the modern era;
Whereas in 1975, Pol Pot led the Communist guerilla group, the Khmer Rouge, in a
large-scale insurgency in Cambodia that resulted in the removal of
Cambodians from their homes and into labor camps in an attempt to
restructure Khmer society;
Whereas traditional Khmer culture and society were systematically destroyed,
including the destruction of temples, schools, hospitals, and other
buildings;
Whereas families were separated in an attempt by the Khmer Rouge to prevent
family formation, many individuals were punished or killed for
education, wealth, or sophistication, and doctors, nurses, clergy,
teachers, business owners, artisans, city dwellers, and even those
individuals who wore glasses were singled out for execution since they
were seen as bourgeois or contaminated with Western influence;
Whereas the Khmer Rouge maintained control by mass public torture, executions,
and dismantling of the social order;
Whereas men, women, and children were sent to labor camps and forced to do
strenuous farm work and famine and disease became epidemic while
medicine and medical care were non-existent;
Whereas after the Khmer Rouge regime was overthrown in 1979 thousands of
Cambodians fled on foot to refugee camps in Thailand and many refugees
were processed again in other camps in the Philippines and Indonesia;
Whereas from these refugee camps approximately 145,149 Cambodians made their way
to the United States between 1975 and 1999, with the majority of
Cambodians arriving in the early 1980s;
Whereas these Cambodians were subsequently resettled in communities across the
United States;
Whereas according to United States Bureau of the Census figures for 2000, there
are approximately 206,053 Cambodians currently living in the United
States;
Whereas despite their tremendous loss, Cambodians and Cambodian-Americans have
shown courage and resiliency;
Whereas the memory of those Cambodians who were killed during the Cambodian
genocide must never be forgotten and the survivors of the Cambodian
genocide should be honored;
Whereas the resettlement of Cambodians reflected the hard work of voluntary
agencies through funding by the Federal government, individual citizens,
and Federal, State, and local governmental agencies, all working
together to assist the new arrivals in adjusting to American society;
Whereas Cambodian refugees have done much to further successful resettlement in
the United States, including through mutual assistance associations
organized by previously resettled Southeast Asian refugees to help new
refugees through the provision of essential social, psychological,
cultural, educational, and economic services; and
Whereas while remembering and honoring both their traditional culture and their
traumatic past, the new generation of Cambodian Americans is
contributing to American society in meaningful ways: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That Congress--
(1) honors the victims of the genocide in Cambodia that
took place beginning in April 1975 and ending in January 1979;
and
(2) is committed to pursue justice for the victims of the
Cambodian genocide.
Passed the House of Representatives November 19, 2003.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.