AKP Phnom Penh, May 16, 2022 --

The Ministry of Culture of Cambodia, KOICA and UNESCO have discussed possible collaboration in phase 2 of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives Preservation and Digitisation.

The discussion took place here last week between H.E. Dr. Phoeurng Sackona, Minister of Culture and Fine Arts (MoCFA), Mr. Hyunjun Rho, Country Director of KOICA Cambodia Office, and Mr. Sardar Umar Alam, UNESCO Representative in Cambodia.

This project was proposed by the UNESCO and MoCFA of Cambodia with the aim of capitalising on the existing work to promote Tuol Sleng Genocide Mueum (TSGM) as a centre of excellence for peace education and global citizenship education (GCED), and to demonstrate it as a green and digital museum model site for tourism and learning, said KOICA in a news release. 

During the meeting, it added, Mr. Hyunjun Rho requested UNESCO and the MoCFA to work together to develop the most feasible Project Concept Paper (PCP) for a new project “Strengthening Digitisation and Conservation for Cambodia” or “Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives Preservation and Digitisation, Phase II” and submit the PCP to KOICA through the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia by early July 2022.  

Upon receipt of PCP, the KOICA Cambodia Office will report to its headquarters to select the priority projects for implementation in 2024. If this project passes the selection, it will be implemented in Cambodia from 2024 until 2028 with a total budget of US$2 million.

KOICA and UNESCO have agreed to work together on the project “Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives Preservation and Digitisation” from 2015 to 2020 with a grant aid of US$1,150,000. Under the project, the TSGM’s archives of over 700,000 pages have been preserved and almost half a million of them have been digitised.

By C. Nika