Genocide Museum awarded UNESCO’s Jikji Prize

September 4, 2020

Va Sonyka / Khmer Times

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was awarded the Jikji Memory of the World Prize from UNESCO for its preservation of documents and photographic archives.

According to The Ministry of Culture, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum of the Kingdom of Cambodia is the eighth institution to receive the Jikji Prize this year.

“The main basis for the award is on the preservation of documents, archives, photographs, and the organisation of a common database that makes it easy for the public to find documents,” the ministry said.

They added that the award has proved the efforts of the Cambodian government and people in preserving historical documents as materials to learn and prevent genocide in the future.

In April 2004 the Executive Board of UNESCO approved the establishment of the Jikji Memory of the World Prize as a means of promoting the Memory of the World Programme, and commemorating the inscription of the “Buljo jikji simche yojeol”, commonly known as the Jikji. Inscribed on the Memory of the World Register in 2001, the Jikji is considered to be the oldest known book of moveable metal print in the world.