The UN Human Rights Council should pass a resolution that addresses the deteriorating human rights situation in Cambodia, the ICJ and 10 other international and Cambodian human rights groups said in a letter to the Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the HRC.
The letter urges the Member States to support a resolution at the Human Rights Council’s 30th regular session (14 September to 2 October 2015), that:
- Raises substantial issues of concern, including violations of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression; threats to, and attacks against, human rights defenders; the lack of independence of the judiciary; violations of land and housing rights; the erosion of fundamental democratic principles and institutions; and ongoing impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses;
- Calls on the Cambodian Government to put an end to these serious violations, abide by its domestic and international human rights obligations, and implement key legal and institutional reforms that UN bodies and mechanisms have highlighted as priorities;
- Extends the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur for a period of at least two years, with monitoring and reporting powers in addition to advisory services;
- Calls on the Cambodian Government to fully cooperate with the current Special Rapporteur, Ms. Rhona Smith, as well as with other UN human rights bodies and mechanisms; and
- Calls on the Cambodian Government to establish a time-bound action plan for the implementation of recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur and by previous mandate holders, as well as by UN bodies and mechanisms, including treaty monitoring bodies, thematic special procedures of the Human Rights Council, and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
The letter also requests Members States to express support for the renewal of the mandate of the OHCHR country office in Cambodia, and to underline the importance of the complementarities between the work of the Special Rapporteur and the OHCHR country office.
The letter was signed by the ICJ, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC), Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Civil Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Human Rights Watch, and World Organization Against Torture (OMCT).
Cambodia-HRC-Human rights situation-Advocacy-open letters-2015-ENG (full text in PDF)