Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) vice-president Chin Malin is due to lead a delegation to Geneva, Switzerland to defend a national report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) over February 21-22, at the 73rd Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).

Malin, who is also Ministry of Justice secretary of state, and a CHRC team will be accompanied by one official from each of the land management, rural development, education, and labour ministries, the committee affirmed in a February 16 press release.

Cambodia filed its combined fifth to seventh periodic reports on the implementation of the ICESCR in October 2019, and submitted a response to a List of Issues of this convent in March 2022.

According to the UN human rights office (OHCHR), CESCR member states “are obliged to submit regular reports to the committee on how economic, social and cultural rights are being implemented. States must report initially within two years of accepting the covenant and thereafter every five years.

“The committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the state party in the form of ‘concluding observations’,” it says.