New UN Special Rapporteur on Cambodia to report to the UN Human Rights Council after inaugural mission

PHNOM PENH / GENEVA (25 September 2015) – The new United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Rhona Smith, today called on the Cambodian authorities to urgently address the issues which have created widespread discontent, including land and labour disputes, through a human rights-centred approach.

“Strengthening further the rule of law, developing and ensuring the independence of those bodies with specific roles in the protection of human rights, particularly the judiciary, is essential for building the stable democratic nation that Cambodians aspire to live in,” Ms. Smith said* at the end of her first official visit to Cambodia, where she met with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

“The Prime Minister raised the issue of discrimination, a matter of concern in any State,” said the expert, who will report to the UN Human Rights Council next week, on 29 September 2015. “Whether indigenous peoples and land rights, women and access to justice, asylum seekers and the recognition of refugee status, workers and labour rights, urban poor and the treatment of street people, rural poor and land concession resettlements, the potential for discrimination to undermine respect for human rights is omnipresent.”

Ms. Smith noted that ensuring respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms is the primary obligation of any State which accepts international human rights treaties. This includes, she said, the adoption of laws which respect human rights norms and legally guarantee the fair and equal enjoyment of the rights contained in those treaties.

“Several key laws with considerable implications for human rights have been adopted recently in Cambodia, including the Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations (LANGO), and several more are in progress, including the draft trade union law and the draft cybercrime law. Ensuring inclusiveness and transparency in law-making is an integral requirement for democracy and good governance,” the human rights expert recalled.

The Special Rapporteur described the area of land concessions as one of the most complex human rights issues Cambodia is currently facing. She noted, however, that the process of conferring land titles and redressing problematic land concessions granted in the past is beginning to see a degree of success, as many of those that have suffered from forced evictions continue to seek justice.

“I encourage the continued review of the concessions, including their cancellation and redistribution as appropriate. As acknowledged by many, there is still much to be done, particularly for the most marginalised, such as indigenous peoples,” she said.

“The ability of all persons to obtain redress and contribute to finding solutions to land, labour and other disputes often depends on their ability to peacefully exercise their fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association,” the human rights expert stressed. “These are the building blocks on which many of their other rights depend.”

In her view, “much of the continuation of peace and stability in the months and years ahead will depend on how well these rights and these freedoms are respected, and how justly the domestic laws that govern them in Cambodia, including the Law on Associations and NGOs (LANGO) and the Law on Peaceful Demonstrations, are implemented across the country,” she highlighted.

In that regard, Ms. Smith warned that during her information-gathering visit she noticed “widely diverging interpretations of permissible restrictions of these rights under international human rights law.”

“The balance between protecting these freedoms and maintaining public order can be a difficult one for any State. Nevertheless that balance must be struck fairly and in accordance with international human rights law,” she said. “I will be paying particularly close attention to these rights during the discharge of my functions.”

Finally, the Special Rapporteur pointed out that education, particularly human rights education, is a key to securing a just and more equitable future for the people of Cambodia.

“Ensuring human rights awareness among children and youth, law enforcement officers, parliamentarians, all levels of government and the judiciary will help Cambodia to better fulfil its human rights obligations,” Ms. Smith said. “Human rights education should, in my view, be a cornerstone of Cambodia’s future but also its present.”

During her nine-day visit to Cambodia, the expert also met with a wide range of Government ministers, as well as representatives of the National Assembly, the Senate, and the Cambodian Human Rights Committee. She also met with representatives of the civil society and local communities, in addition to the UN Country Team and the donor community.

(*) Check the Special Rapporteur’s full end-of-mission statement: http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2015/09/statement-united-nations-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-cambodia

Professor Rhona Smith (United Kingdom) was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2015, succeeding Professor Surya P. Subedi, who completed his six-year term on the mandate in March 2015. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur derives from the Paris Peace Accords Agreement on a comprehensive political settlement of the Cambodian conflict. Ms. Smith is a Professor of international human rights in the United Kingdom. Ms. Smith has also been a visiting professor at Pannasastra University in Cambodia where she worked on designing and developing course curricula for the re-launch of Cambodia’s first master level program in human rights law.

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

UN Human Rights, country page – Cambodia: http://www.ohchr.org/en/countries/cambodia and http://cambodia.ohchr.org

For additional information and media enquiries, please contact:
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