‘They are heroes’: Angelina Jolie honours survivors of sexual violence under Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge
An unknown number of women and men were forced into marriages by the Khmer Rouge as part of its plan to destroy traditional family structures
Angelina Jolie has paid tribute to the survivors of forced marriage under the Khmer Rouge and pledged to continue advocating on behalf of women and girls who suffer from sexualised violence in conflict.
Jolie has spent the past few days in Cambodia, where her new made-for-Netflix film, First They killed My Father, premiered on Saturday night in Siem Reap’s Angkor Wat temple complex.
Speaking at an event held by the British Embassy in Phnom Penh on Tuesday night, Jolie – who co-founded the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative with former British foreign secretary William Hague in 2012 – welcomed efforts to prosecute the practice of forced marriage during the ultra-Maoist regime between 1975 and 1979.
“I’m of course very conscious of the part that played in the suffering of the Cambodian women in the genocide,” she said.
“I welcome the fact that the [Khmer Rouge] tribunal has begun to address this issue and I pay tribute to all the survivors in Cambodia, including those who have so bravely given evidence. I believe they are heroes to us all.”
I pay tribute to all the survivors in Cambodia ... I believe they are heroes to us all
An unknown number of women and men were forced into marriages by the Khmer Rouge as part of its plan to destroy traditional family structures and build up a new population of faithful cadre. Most were forced, at gunpoint and under threat of death, to consummate these forced unions.
