Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission
Cambodia: Legal Foundation And Framework For The Country's Judiciary Required
The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) wishes to bring to the attention of the Human Rights Council a major lacuna that constitutes one of the most fundamental obstacles to the enjoyment, protection and promotion of human rights in Cambodia. The lack of the required laws on the statute of judges and prosecutors as well as the lack of the legal underpinning to the organisation of the judiciary are resulting in the judiciary not functioning effectively. This crucial institution is fundamental to the actualisation of human rights and remains ineffective and lacking in independence and capacity to function. It is imperative for any discussion on human rights in Cambodia, for these issues to take centre-stage. Without an effective, legally established and independent judiciary, human rights violations have no effective deterrent and impunity is guaranteed.
By virtue of the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991, Cambodia is bound to all relevant international norms and standards of human rights. It is to set up an independent judiciary so that, as §2 of Annex 5 on the “Principles for a New Constitution for Cambodia” to the “Agreement in a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict,” aggrieved individuals will have the courts adjudicate and enforce their rights.
Cambodia has since honoured many of its international obligations as it has adhered to international human rights instruments and has enshrined many human rights in its 1993 Constitution. As spelled out clearly in the preamble to this Constitution, Cambodia is supposed to be a pluralistic liberal democracy governed by the rule of law and respecting human rights. Its Art.31 states that “The Kingdom of Cambodia shall recognize and respect human rights as stipulated in the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the covenants and conventions related to human rights, women’s and children’s rights.” In its decision dated 10 July 2007, Cambodia’s Constitutional Council declared that all recognised human rights have become an integral part of Cambodian law.
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