Twenty-five years later Cambodia is still struggling to rebuild its culture and reconcile its violent past. The overwhelming majority of Cambodians are young people under the age of 25; many of those who lived through the genocide lost most of their family members to the violence and were deeply traumatized by the experience. The legacy of the genocide and the years of continual conflict, violence, and instability continue in so many big and little ways. For example, Cambodia was heavily mined during the years of armed conflict and even today there are still an estimated 4 to 6 million landmines buried in rural areas throughout the country. Cambodia has the highest per-capita percentage of mine amputees in the world, with one in every 236 Cambodians living with one or more lost limbs.

Among the many things on display in the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a quote: "The Bones Cannot Find Peace Until the Truth They Reveal in Themselves Has Been Revealed." The bones are a reminder for future generations of Cambodia's suffering and the devastation of war. It is hard to believe that no one has ever been held responsible for the slaughter and death of more than 2 million Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge period. As the country nears closer and closer to a possible war crimes tribunal, places like Tuol Sleng will take on even greater significance. The young generation in Cambodian right now knows little about the Khmer Rouge period and has not yet begun to try to understand how it could have happened in the first place. The older generation continues to keep quiet about their experiences. Impunity and corruption in Cambodia are rampant: how can people believe in the law and justice when such a big crime continues to go unpunished? One thing is clear: it will be crucial to make sure that the younger generations have a chance to learn about their history. As the Documentation Center of Cambodia notes in a recent report:

"Disinterest and ignorance about the Khmer Rouge and the genocide they perpetrated in Cambodia is dangerous.  Today, young Cambodians have little interest in news relating to Khmer Rouge issues...Almost two full generations of Cambodian children have completed public education without an awareness of genocide and their country's tragic past. This only makes reconciliation and peace harder to achieve."

Cambodia also faces many of the same problems endemic to other "developing" countries around the world. Education is not reaching enough young people. Democracy is not a daily practice. Development is skewed towards the cities as the rural areas suffer. Poverty is all too common and widespread. As the poorest nation in Southeast Asia, approximately 1/3 of the population does not earn enough money to eat two meals a day (or roughly $1 per day). The incidence of HIV/AIDS is on the rise and Cambodia currently has 40,000 to 50,000 AIDS orphans. The number is expected to soar to 140,000. Cambodia has one of the world's highest rates of child labor. One half of 4 million children aged 15-17 are employed in farms and factories across the country. Many of those factories provide clothing to the U.S., in particular to The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic.

Furthermore, this country of flatlands, agriculture, farmers, fields and crops, is home to countless thousands of people without land. The brazen, unrelenting and at times violent seizure of land from rural communities by government officials and outside business interests has become one of the most prominent and disturbing phenomena to emerge in Cambodia in recent years.

Through it all, Cambodia's Consultative Group of international donors continues to place a misguided stamp of approval on the government. Despite entrenched and rampant corruption as well as the Cambodian government's blatant failure to hold up its end of the bargain with respect to human rights, the consultative groups nonetheless made a recent pledge of $601 million in funding to the Cambodian government, effectively giving the government a further license to abuse its own people.