The Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) – in collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Asia Pacific Forum (APF) of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) – organised a regional workshop on the “Journey to Form the Cambodian National Human Rights Institution”.
The workshop was held in Phnom Penh on October 11 and attended by representatives from the National Assembly (NA), Senate and other ministries and relevant state institutions.
Speakers included officials from the NHRIs of Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, as well as representatives from APF.
Kata Orn, spokesman for the CHRC, emphasised that the process to establish an NHRI in Cambodia is being done within the framework of the UN, which oversees reports relating to the Kingdom’s human rights situation, and the progress made in this area shows the country’s wilingness to accomplish this goal.
“It is very important that we have a human rights body. Of the 10 ASEAN member states, there are five with national human rights bodies, and we’d like to join them, because Cambodia is an active member of the UN that prides itself on its contributions there. So we must fulfil our obligation to establish a national institution that is independent and is not under the control of the NA, government or other civil society organisations,” he said.
He further detailed that Cambodia’s NHRI would work independently and neutrally to promote the protection of human rights and make evaluations and recommendations to improve it.
“This national institution will assist the Cambodian people with the protection of human rights and raise awareness of human rights as well as addressing any possible violations and ensuring that those victims receive equal treatment under the law,” he added.
This is the second regional workshop on the topic of the formation of Cambodia’s NHRI. The first regional workshop was held in October, 2021, and was organised as a forum for sharing experiences and challenges.
The speakers from the NHRIs of other countries in the region discussed the process of organising and operating their own institutions in order to provide input that Cambodia could learn from and draw on while the Kingdom completes its planning phase.
