The Cambodia Human Rights Committee (CHRC) held workshops with relevant stakeholders on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the 173 accepted recommendations put forward by the UN Human Rights Council at the 32nd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva.
CHRC spokesperson Chin Malin told The Post that Wednesday’s session saw different embassies, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and civil society organisations participate in discussions.
Thursday’s half-day session was attended by government officials from relevant ministries and institutions for “technical level” discussions with UPR Info, a UN mechanism providing capacity-building tools to stakeholders of the UPR process.
“CHRC will wrap up the recommendations given to each ministry and review and verify them by consulting the responsible government institutions.
“The next step is to make a final decision on assigning the recommendations to the relevant ministries and institution,” Malin said.
Malin said Prime Minister Hun Sen would approve the sharing of tasks before each ministry or institution begins implementation. CHRC would then work with the ministries and institutions on the plan and indicators to meet the recommendations.
In January, Cambodia had received 198 recommendations raised by 73 countries at the UPR session. But, Cambodia noted 25 recommendations, saying they did not reflect the truth or were politically motivated.
Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) executive director Chak Sopheap said CCHR attended Wednesday’s UPR workshop and she welcomed the government’s collaboration with OHCHR and other experts.
“CCHR also warmly welcomes the government’s engagement with civil society through this workshop. We hope that the government continues to be open and transparent throughout the UPR process,” she said.
Sopheap said the workshop would translate into concrete actions by the relevant ministries towards implementing the recommendations. Civil society, she said, would look forward to observing and monitoring their progress.
She continued to encourage the government to seriously consider implementing the 25 recommendations it noted.
“Implementing the noted recommendations would illustrate the government’s willingness to comply with its human rights obligations, to meaningfully restore civic space, uphold respect for fundamental freedoms and overall improve the human rights situation in the country,” said Sopheap.
