(June 26 is observed every year as the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.)
In the second half of the 1970s the Cambodian people experienced among the worst cases of systematic torture in the history of mankind when they were living under the Khmer Regime. In 1992, after the ouster of this atrocious regime and the signing of a peace accord to end a prolonged war, Cambodia became in earnest a party to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In 2007, it reiterated its earnestness by quickly ratifying the Optional Protocol to that convention or OPCAT.
Cambodias earnestness remains largely dubious when there is still torture in places of detention and little action has been taken against the perpetrators. The Cambodian government has added more doubts when, in its attempt to honour its obligations under OPCAT, it has proposed the creation of a national preventive mechanism and the appointment of its composition through a prime minister decree.
The proposed mechanism is to be chaired by the Minister of Interior and composed of officials from the Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Social Affairs, National Defence, and Justice, the Prison Department of the Ministry of Interior, the National Police and the Government Human Rights Committee. It is not to have any autonomous budget and it is to be supported by the budget of the Ministry of Interior.
The creation of a mechanism with such composition by such a low-ranking government decree and with no autonomous budget would be no more than an inter-ministerial, government inspection body to conduct visits to places of detention. It would be no more than another layer of inspection authority on top of the inspection departments of the Ministries of Interior and of Social Affairs, and the prison department of the Ministry of Interior, when all the places of detention in Cambodia are already under the responsibility of all these ministries and departments.
This national preventive mechanism would not be independent. It would therefore fail to meet the requirement of independence stipulated under Articles 17 and 18 of OPCAT. The Asian Human Rights Commission therefore urges the Cambodian government to fully honour its obligations under OPCAT, and create a national mechanism for the prevention of torture by an act of parliament that meets the standards set by OPCAT with all the guarantees of independence and power of access to all places of detention and persons deprived of liberty across Cambodia.
Putting in place such a mechanism that can effectively prevent torture would be one way for the Cambodian government to pay its respect to those countless Cambodians who endured torture, who succumbed to it, or who survived under the Khmer Rouge regime. This gesture very much fits in well with the spirit of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
