The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on Monday opened its 100th session in Geneva, Switzerland. hun sen’s facebook
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on Monday opened its 100th session in Geneva, Switzerland, to review the State reports of five countries, including Cambodia, on their adherence to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
A press release from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday said five of the 182 States parties that have acceded to the ICERD will be reviewed during its 100th session – namely, Cambodia, Colombia, Ireland, Israel and Uzbekistan.
Cambodia’s State report is scheduled to be reviewed from November 28-29.
“The Committee will hold dialogues with delegations from the respective governments and be briefed by NGOs, national human rights institutions and independent monitoring frameworks.
“The Committee will also continue its work regarding the inter-state communications submitted to it in 2018,” the press release said.
On November 5, the Ministry of Interior opened a discussion to gather information on the status of human rights, ethnic minority and indigenous people, and immigrants in Cambodia and submit it to the Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC).
Vice-president of the CHRC Chet Chealy will lead the Cambodian delegation to address its 15-point report on the human rights situation in Cambodia.
CHRC spokesman Chin Malin said on Tuesday that this was a normal procedure. According to UN regulations, all member states of the ICERD are obliged to submit their reports on the implementation of the convention to the UN Committee for review.
Malin said Cambodia will send seven delegates from five ministries and institutions – the Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Rural Development; Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport; and the CHRC.
‘Positive steps’
“Cambodian delegates will present a summary of our State report to the Committee about the positive steps we’ve taken to combat racial discrimination, as well as the challenges we’ve faced and goals in the future.
The Committee will then review our report and provide relevant recommendations for the improvement of our anti-racial discrimination initiatives,” he said.
The Cambodian delegation would also raise the formulation of policies and legal frameworks in Cambodia to promote human rights of the ethnic minority such as the Khmer Krom people, and Vietnamese immigrants, Malin continued.
The Committee is scheduled to publish its concluding observations and recommendations on the respective States on December 13.
