Joseph Scheuer, UN resident coordinator in Cambodia, paid a February 6 courtesy call on Keo Remy, chairman of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC). CHRC
The Ministry of Interior is continuing to review and amend the contents of the draft Law on the Establishment of a National Committee against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which had been in process since 2009.
The bill was discussed on Monday during a meeting attended by ministry secretary of state Bun Hun, head of the National Committee Against Torture Nuth Sa An and other relevant stakeholders.
When it is eventually passed, the ministry expects the bill to become a mechanism to fulfil Cambodia’s obligations under the UN’s Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Hun said the law was drafted because Cambodia is a party to the Convention Against Torture.
The purpose of establishing the law, the ministry said, is to protect people from torture-related abuse and ensure that persecution is prevented by setting regular rules at every prison and anywhere where freedom was or might be taken away in Cambodia.
Sa An told The Post on Tuesday that the draft law was first debated in 2009 but stood down until the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva came to Cambodia again.
He said in 2013, the UN representative came to Cambodia to assist the Kingdom in drafting the law but it was put on hold again. The UN Convention against Torture required Cambodia to have an independent mechanism, he said.
“The inter-ministerial committee that was urgently created in 2009 is of no use now because it [the UN] requires us to have an independent body.
“By independence, it means the body cannot be under the government or anyone else. The draft law has been completed already, we just need to discuss the contents and decide whether to add more or adjust it,” he said.
Rights group Licadho deputy director Am Sam Ath said in 2007, Cambodia received an additional protocol on the UN Convention Against Torture. As a state party, Cambodia is duty-bound to create its national mechanism to prevent torture, atrocities and inhumanity.
He said the government has already established a National Committee Against Torture but some other mechanisms have not been created yet. He said the Cambodian Criminal Code also has language about torture but is not detailed enough.
“In whatever aspect, we want to see that the meeting on this draft law has the participation of relevant parties, including experts and civil society organisations to make this draft law efficient,” he said.
Ministry of Justice spokesperson Chin Malin said a state party to this convention is required to have an independent institution to prevent torture.
He said the existing national committee was created by a royal decree, which is not a mechanism that is independent of the government. So, the interior ministry needs to prepare a law that makes the committee a national independent institution.
Malin said Cambodia has experienced torture against prisoners, but these acts were isolated cases and those who committed the crimes were held accountable under the law.
Torture in the past was committed by some officials such as the police, Military Police and prison officials, he said, but they were held liable under the law, facing administrative penalties as well as legal punishment.
