Halfway around the world, three Canadian police officers are investigating decades-old war crimes from the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.
"The work we're doing here helps give survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime, and the millions who didn't survive, a voice in the justice process," says RCMP Cpl. Bailey Gilarowski, one of the police officers posted to the Southeast Asian country.
Khmer Rouge ruled from 1975 to 1979, and was found guilty of crimes against humanity, including the deaths of two million Cambodians, by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), which was established to prosecute senior leaders of the regime.
While it's been more than 30 years since the communist government ruled the region, and nearly 10 years since the courts were established, many of those responsible have not yet been brought to justice.
That's why Gilarowski, along with Ottawa Police Staff Sgt. Isobel Granger and Vancouver Police Det.-Const. Ana Jean Benefield were deployed on a year-long mission through Canada's International Police Peace Operations Program.
The three women are part of a group of international investigators, analysts and legal experts working with the ECCC, a joint Cambodian-United Nations organization.
Since January, they have been based in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, visiting villages to record testimonies from victims. Each month, the police officers spend 10 to 14 days in the field interviewing survivors.
"I've heard some very sad and violent stories and yet these people don't give up. They continue to live and work and laugh," says Benefield.
Their interviews will become part of the permanent court record for the investigation and also a part of Cambodia's historical records.
"What the Cambodian people have survived in the past and how hard they're working towards a positive and hopeful future proves their resiliency," says Gilarowski.
In March, Granger helped the ECCC charge one of two suspects for homicide and crimes against humanity. Both cases are still under investigation, and the teams are continuing to build evidence.