The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Sunday handed out 1,200 booklets outlining internal regulations of the General Department of Prisons.
The booklets are in four languages – Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese and English – and intended as a guide for detainees on the rules of prison life in the Kingdom and their rights, said an ICRC press release. The booklets will be distributed to all 28 prisons across Cambodia.
The handover ceremony took place at the General Department of Prisons and was attended by ICRC deputy prison project coordinator Chyngyz Rayimbekor and General Department of Prisons director-general Chan Kimseng.
Rayimbekor said the purpose is to support the General Department of Prisons to facilitate the foreign prisoners, which make up about five per cent of the total prison population in Cambodia.
It is also to help prisoners understand the law and regulations while imprisoned in Cambodia.
“Foreign prisoners are classified as vulnerable due to many factors, particularly language barriers. Because of this, the group shall be considered as special, just like women, minors, the elderly and the disabled,” Rayimbekor said.
The General Department of Prisons posted Kimseng’s speech on Facebook. In it, he said the ICRC always gives direct aid to the General Department of Prisons and the booklets serve an important tool to educate foreign detainees about Cambodia’s prisons.
Kimseng said: “One of the purposes which we have tried to achieve in the last two years is to translate important documents for foreign prisoners. I’m pleased that everybody can understand the law and prison regulations.”
In this last few weeks, ICRC also supported the General Department of Prisons in terms of preventing the spread of Covid-19 by providing hygiene facilities, hygienic healthcare and training that included cleaning with chlorine, checking for Covid-19 symptoms and reporting potential patients to prison staff.
