Honoring the victims of the Cambodian genocide that took place from April 1975 to January 1979.

Whereas beginning in April 1975, Pol Pot led the Communist guerilla group, the Khmer Rouge, in a large-scale insurgency in Cambodia that forcibly removed 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, homes, and historic buildings;

Whereas the Khmer Rouge separated and destroyed families and punished and killed innocent civilians, including women, children, doctors, nurses, clergy, teachers, business owners, intellectuals and artisans;

Whereas more than 1.7 million Cambodians, or approximately 21 percent of the population, were killed in one of the worst atrocities of the last century;

Whereas many people were executed simply for being educated, wealthy, or even for wearing glasses as they were seen as bourgeois or contaminated with Western influence;

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, with the majority arriving in the early 1980s and settling in communities across the United States;

Whereas despite the tremendous loss of family members, homes, and even parts of their heritage during the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodians have shown courage and enormous resiliency;

Whereas, according to United States Census Bureau figures, there are approximately 206,053 Cambodians currently living in the United States, with a significant percentage of this population residing in the 37th Congressional District of California;

Whereas the new generation of Cambodian-Americans continues to contribute to all aspects of American society as writers, doctors, professors, and community leaders; and

Whereas the United Nations has taken affirmative steps to establish an international criminal tribunal to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Cambodian genocide: Now, therefore, be it