The Katharine and George Community Law Center (KGACLC) was recently honored by a visit from Mr. Sophearith Choung and Mr. Socheat Nhean, two members of the Victims of Torture Project, a part of the Documnetation Center in Cambodia (DC-Cam). DC-Cam is an NGO dedicated to the research and preservation of documentation on crimes perpetrated during the Khmer Rouge period in that country. One fo their goals during their visit to the SCU School of Law and the KGACLC was to learn more about working with victims of trauma in relation to legal cases. To this end, they met with Professor Lynette Parker, the Law Center’s immigration attorney, who specializes in legal cases involving victims of crime and trauma.
Documenting the history of the Khmer Rouge is at the core of DC-Cam’s operations. DC-Cam has been active in collecting documents relevant to the history of the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) era for nearly a decade. To date, they have accumulated and organized approximately 600,000 pages of documentation from the DK era that could potentially serve as evidence at an upcoming trial for crimes against humanity at the United Nations. DC-Cam offers summer internship opportunities to SCU Law Students who wish to participate in this exciting work (please read the corresponding section below).
DC-Cam and the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) are working together to implement the two-year Victims of Torture Project, which was designed to address the trauma experienced by both the victims and perpetrators of the Khmer Rouge. Much of the knowledge gained by Mr. Choung and Mr. Nhean during their extensive and admirable work in their country and their visit to organizations like the KGACLC will be applied as they provide psychological and moral support to the victims testifying during the trial, scheduled for July 2007.
Regarding his meeting with Professor Parker, Mr. Choung said, "This was very helpful and suitable for our project. We did learn a lot, and this makes our trip a very fruitful one." Professor Parker recognized that the meeting was mutually beneficial. "We share common experiences and face similar challenges on how to best serve and support traumatized persons within the legal process, as well as how to minimize re-traumatization and vicarious trauma of legal representatives, interpreters, court personnel, and investigators. Through these dialogs we are able to continually refine our protocols and practices," she said.
Internship Opportunities for SCU Law Students
You can find additional information about DC-Cam and its projects at http://www.dccam.org/ . Santa Clara University has placed law students as interns at DC-Cam for the last two summers and will place another one this summer. For information regarding this opportunity, please contact Law School Professor Beth Van Schaack. Professor Van Schaack was an intern there as a law student in 1995 and now works as an advisor to the organization.
