Joint Submission by Non-Governmental Organizations on Freedom of Expression and Assembly for the Universal Periodic Review of Cambodia’s fulfilment of its Human Rights obligations and commitments.
ADHOC participated in the coalition of NGOs coordinated by the Alliance for Freedom of Expression in Cambodia (AFEC) and assisted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) that made a joint submission on freedom of expression and assembly in Cambodia to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva.
Cambodia has a variety of human rights obligations in respect of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. The Royal Government of Cambodia (the “Government”) has engaged with some international human rights mechanisms but not with others, whist the current national human rights infrastructure is seriously flawed. The last four years have seen freedom of expression and assembly seriously undermined with opinion restricted, parliamentarians silenced, the media controlled, access to information blocked, and assembly and public demonstration prevented. The Government has breached its international and constitutional human rights obligations, and has relied on national legislation which itself breaches these obligations. Our recommendations for improving respect for freedom of expression and assembly include ratification of the First Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the establishment of an independent national human rights body; and a series of legislative reforms. We conclude by underlining the need for capacity building and technical assistance to help the Government implement our recommendations and respect freedom of expression and assembly.
