Cambodia is a country in Southeast Asia that is less than half the size of California. It gained independence from France in 1953. During the Vietnam War, the Prime Minister adopted neutrality, but was ousted in a coup by his own general Lon Nol. Lon Nol was overthrown by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in 1975. In 1975, there was a genocide in Cambodia, led by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, which shook the country of 7.1 million people, resulting in over 1 million dead. The term “genocide” was established by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jewish lawyer who fled Germany in 1941. Lemkin combined the term “genos,” meaning race or tribe, and “cide,” meaning to kill, to create the word genocide . “Genocide” was included in the charter indicting the war criminals of the Allied powers. In 1946 the genocide was declared punishable under international law. According to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide is defined as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious identity” . group, including: (a) killing members of the group, (b) causing serious physical or mental harm to members of the group, (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life intended to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, ( d) impose measures intended to prevent births within the group, (e) forcibly transfer children of the group to another group.” However, some have raised questions about the meaning of the term genocide. Some issues include "the nature of the group targeted" and the number of people killed. In April 1975, Pol Pot with the help of the Khmer Rouge, a communist group, took control of Cambodia and renamed it Democratic. of paper ......withoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflitti/cambodian-genocideThe death of Pol Pot: the questions. (1998, April 18). Retrieved March 18, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/18/world/death-pol-pot-questions-khmer-rouge-rush-cremate-pol-pot-s-body-without - autopsy.htmlEtcheson, C. (2008, June 10). “The number”: quantifying crimes against humanity in Cambodia. Retrieved March 18, 2014, from http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/toll.htmFagan, A. (2010). The Atlas of Human Rights. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Gemza, S. (n.d.). Cambodia: Genocide. Retrieved from http://www.cybercambodia.com/dachs/stories/soy.htmlGenocide In Cambodia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.hmh.org/ed_Genocide_Cambodia.shtmlGoldhagen, DJ (2009). Worse than war. New York, NY: Perseus Books. What is genocide? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/what-is-genocide