Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Desire for Revenge

The idea that transitional justice in general and the ECCC in particular, can contribute to forgiveness and reconciliation has been advanced as one of the reasons to support such mechanisms.[1] Duch, during his trial, asked victims’ families for forgiveness. The survey included a series of questions aimed at understanding community attitudes toward forgiveness and reconciliation. It found that the proportion of respondents who forgave the Khmer Rouge top leaders has remained unchanged (36%) since 2008. At the same time, feelings of animosity and desire for revenge towards KR decreased only slightly, with a large majority of Cambodians continuing to report feelings of hatred (81%), and a desire to see those responsible suffer (68%). The survey further asked directly about the impact of the trial on forgiveness toward Duch. Less than half the population indicated having forgiven Duch after the trial, which is slightly more than the proportion that indicated having forgiven Khmer Rouge top leaders.

Figure 14: Attitudes toward former KR responsible for the violence

A second series of questions aimed at capturing understanding of and attitudes about reconciliation. Respondents defined reconciliation slightly differently in 2010 compared to 2008. In 2008 a majority of the population defined reconciliation as the absence of violence and conflict (56%); however only 15% did so in 2010. In the 2010 survey, a majority (54%) characterized reconciliation as unity and living together, and more mentioned communicating and understanding each other (38%) and gentleness (compassion) for each other (27%) as reconciliation. About 8% defined reconciliation as forgiveness and about 5% defined it as “no revenge.” The survey further shows that the level of comfort interacting with members of the former Khmer Rouge who were responsible for what happened during the Khmer Rouge regime during various social settings has changed very little between 2008 and 2010 and that only a minority (41%) was ready to reconcile with Duch after his trial.

Figure 15: Attitudes Towards Former Khmer Rouge who were responsible for what happened

[1] Reconciliation is specifically stated in the Preamble of the ECCC Internal Rules and in the “Introduction to the Khmer Rouge Trials,” Third Edition, 2008, ECCC Publication, at http://www.eccc.gov.kh/english/cabinet/publications/an_introduction_to_K....