In recognition of the horrific violations of the rights of its people in its recent past and in order to prevent any recurrence of such violations, Cambodia, by virtue of the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991 that put an end to the war, has undertaken, among other things, to ensure respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia and adhere to relevant international human rights instruments.
However, so far, according to successive reports, although the Cambodian people have enjoyed more rights and freedoms than in the communist days prior to 1991, Cambodias human rights situation does not show much improvement at all. Cambodia has adhered to many main human rights treaties but has failed to ratify certain instruments attached to these treaties. It has also further failed to make declarations to recognize the competence of the human rights bodies created under these instruments.
For instance, Cambodia ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) in 1983, but it has not made any declaration to recognise the competence of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) under article 14 of ICERD. It ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CDAW) in 1992, and signed the Optional Protocol to it in 2001. However, so far it has not ratified this Protocol and, because of this omission, it has not recognised the competence of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The same omission is noted with its ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1992, and with its signing of the First Optional Protocol to this Covenant in 2004. It has so far not ratified this Protocol and, subsequently, not recognised the competence of the Human Rights Committee under article 1 of this Protocol.
Cambodia showed eagerness to combat torture when it ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in 1992 and was the second Asian country to ratify the Optional Protocol to this Convention or OPCAT on 30 March 2007. However, this eagerness has not been matched by the same eagerness first to make a declaration to recognize the competence of the Committee against Torture under articles 21 and 22 of CAT and then to set up an independent national mechanism for the prevention of torture or NPM, within the period of 12 months after that ratification as stipulated by OPCAT.
The delay and uncertainty in the ratification of the optional protocols above, in the recognition of the competence of the international human rights bodies created under these protocols, and in the creation of the national mechanism for the prevention of torture under OPCAT, are a testimony to Cambodias failure to honour this part of its international human rights obligations under the Paris Peace Agreements.
More importantly, since those international human rights bodies are habilitated to consider complaints from individuals, this omission has deprived aggrieved individuals in Cambodia of international venues in which they may have their rights adjudicated and obtain redress when all domestic judicial, administrative or legislative authorities, or any other competent authority in Cambodia are practically dysfunctional regarding human rights adjudication and redress. The same omission has deprived Cambodia itself of the corrective measures that those bodies may recommend to help improve the organisation and workings of its own authorities for human rights adjudication and redress, however much the Cambodian government may dislike those bodies rulings.
A few examples are sufficient to prove the absence of such adjudication and redress and of such functional authorities. For example, just this year, the prosecutor attached to the court of Koh Kong province refused to receive a complaint of torture filed by a young fisherman against a police officer in that province. Another prosecutor who is attached to the court of Kampot province did not act upon a complaint of torture and illegal confinement by a police officer against his superiors. Over recent years, in land grabbing cases, courts of law have cooperated with the rich and powerful, not only to evict residents from their homes and lands, but also to arrest and jail some of them in order to stop their protests instead of adjudicating these cases as civil disputes.
Furthermore, there is no procedure whereby aggrieved individuals can file complaints in court or other authorities for violations of their rights other than violations in breach of criminal law. There are simply no independent mechanisms or easy procedures to get, for instance, violations of the freedom of expression, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, and free press adjudicated.
Aggrieved individuals can file their complaints to the Constitutional Council, but they have to do it though a court of first instance and then through the Supreme Court for alleged violations of their rights related to their court litigation, or though the king or the Parliament if they feel their constitutional rights are affected by any law or regulation. But all these channels are so complicated, difficult and intimidating, as challenging government decisions or government-initiated laws bear security risks for complainants, that so far no individual has ever filed a human rights complaint through them to the Constitutional Council.
A remedy for such omissions is long overdue. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) therefore strongly urges the Cambodian government to honour its international human rights obligations and ratify the following international human rights instruments without any further delay: the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CDAW) and the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The Cambodian government should also make declarations to recognize the competence of respectively, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) under article 14 of ICERD and the Committee against Torture under articles 21 and 22 of CAT. It should further enact, as a matter of urgency, a law to set up an independent national mechanism for the prevention of torture now that the prescribed period of 12 months for putting such a mechanism in place after ratification of OPCAT has already expired.
The AHRC also urges State parties to the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991, donor countries, UN agencies and international aid agencies to work with the Cambodian government to help it to honour this part of its international human rights obligations.
