The Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies (CPCS) is embarking on a journey to launch the Cambodia Peace Museum. CPCS is deeply grounded in Cambodia, and uses the rich conflict and peace history of the country as a learning space for peacework throughout Asia and beyond.
The Peace Museum will be a space for learning and reflecting on the journey from the civil war that begin in the 1970s and continued through the 1990s, with an emphasis on peace-building and reconciliation efforts.
Exhibits will explore the different approaches to ending the conflict, including the peace process that resulted in the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1991, as well as the many efforts led by Cambodians in civil society, former combatants, the government and faith groups.
The Peace Museum will seek to engage with the younger generations of Cambodians to learn from the past to sustain peace in Cambodia.
“As Cambodians, we have to find ways to transform our collective trauma from the past so we can ensure that these dark experiences will not be repeated again in the future. A peace museum is a way for collecting positive energy for social healing and to give a more hopeful perspective for the future.”
“The museum will celebrate Cambodia’s journey and the resilience of Cambodians that have moved the country past war. Visitors will be inspired to become actors for peace and apply what they have learned when they return home.”
The Cambodia Peace Museum will highlight the personal transformation of Cambodian peacebuilders and how their experiences with conflict became their motivation to work for peace, as part of the wider story of peace and reconciliation work in the country.
For some examples of the stories the museum will tell, click on the link below to browse profiles of Cambodian peacebuilders from the CPCS publication Resilience.