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CJR organizes regular public forums on justice and national reconciliation.  The theme for these forums in 2010 is “Moving Forward, Together: Transforming Killing Fields to Healing, Living Fields”. 

CJR places great energy and attention in creating a safe environment to facilitate dialogue at each forum.  Seating is arranged intimately in an oval shape so that every participant can see the face of everyone else in the room.  We never have more than 200 participants (150 invited villagers and some relevant 30-50 individuals from Phnom Penh) at each forum; anything more would be a rally, not conducive for dialogue and deep engagement.

The principal goal of these public forums is to provide a secure space for conversations on topics many years overdue and highly sensitive and emotional, and, in the process, to broaden this conversational space.  Our staff trained in psychology remain on hand for counseling throughout the whole process – during ground preparations and on the forum day.   

Many Cambodian villages have limited access to information, particularly on the issues of justice and reconciliation.  Not only do Cambodians experience informational limitation but also geographic constraints.  Often their sense of “the world,” of “the nation,” and of “being Cambodian” is geographically limited to their village or commune for many of them have never traveled outside these markers. 

In light of this knowledge, CJR focuses on quality of information and presentation to engage all in this process of learning and discussion.  We invite different organizations and institutions to present diverse and competing ideas, through their talks or via the printed materials they are encouraged to distribute at our public forums.  Moreover, each public forum is broadcast and re-broadcasted on local radio stations such as CJR's Voice of Justice and Reconciliation Radio and sometimes even local television in that particular province during the following month.  As we are concerned about deep, quality engagement and are aware that these provincial participants will be ambassadors to their families and neighbors in their village, thus acting as multipliers, CJR also provides them with as many resources as possible to take home.