ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the construction of memories in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge (KR) period, departing from Jeffrey Alexander's and Jenny Edkins's notions of traumatic events. It analyses both gender-based violence (GBV) issues during the KR period and how GBV is perceived in the Extraordinary Court of the Chambers of Cambodia (ECCC) today. The chapter reveals how the international community has supported local non-governmental organisations (NGO) in their attempts to advance 'forced marriages' onto the ECCC agenda. It highlights gender asymmetries in relation to the reconstruction of memories in the aftermath of trauma by analysing in what ways 'forced marriage', a crime against humanity, is handled by the ECCC. After almost four years of KR rule that left, according to James A. Tyner, as many as two million people dead, Cambodia's historically intricate relations with Vietnam eventually led to the overthrow of Pol Pot regime. The Cold War ended in 1989, and so did the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia.
