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Statement ofthe Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rightsin Cambodia

Professor Surya Prasad SUBEDI
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Human Rights Council
24th Session
24 September 2013

Mr President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have the honour to address the Council to provide a brief account of the progress made and the challenges remaining in the promotion and protection of human rights in the Kingdom of Cambodia during the 12 months since I addressed the Council last year. It is based primarily on the information that I obtained during my two missions to the country, information received from various independent and credible sources and the communications received from the Government.

At the outset, I wish to note that I was very pleased to receive comments from the Government to my report this year. However, since they were communicated to me too late to be reflected in my report, they have been made available as a G document for your reference.

Since my appointment as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia by the Human Rights Council in March 2009, I have produced four substantive and substantial reports with a thorough analysis of the situation of human rights and a series of constructive recommendations, designed to assist the Government with their reform agenda and the process of democratization. Having focused on judicial, parliamentary and electoral reform and on the human rights impact of economic and other land concessions, I felt the time was ripe to take stock of the progress achieved on the implementation of the recommendations I had made in these reports and identify the remaining challenges. Therefore, rather than taking up a new thematic focus, I focused my last two missions to the country –one conducted in December 2012 and the other in May 2013 – on monitoring the human rights situation in the country and on the follow-up to my previous reports. The spirit in which I undertook this exercise – as I have always done with respect to the implementation of my mandate- was a constructive one, designed to assist the Government in identifying areas of progress as well as the remaining challenges.

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