Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Second periodic report submitted by Cambodia under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant, due in 2012 *

[Date received: 24 June 2020]

Contents

Page

I.Introduction3

II.Responses to the Committee’s Recommendations3

A.Judicial Sector3

BEstablishment of National Human Rights Institution4

C.Anti-Corruption4

D.Housing and Land Sector5

E.The Rights of Persons with Disabilities7

F.Education Sector8

G.Health Sector10

H.Equal Rights between Men and Women11

I.Labour Sector13

J.Anti-Human Trafficking16

K.Social Services18

L.Ratification of International Treaties21

M.Dissemination and Implementation of Concluding Observations21

III.Challenges22

IV.The RGC Strategies22

References23

I.Introduction

1.The population of the Kingdom of Cambodia is approximately 15,717,674 as of 2017.The Kingdom of Cambodia covers a total land area of 181,035 km2 which is divided into 1 municipality, 25 provinces, 27 cities, 14 Khans, 162 districts, 1,405 communes, 241 Sangkats, and 14,383 villages.

2.The Kingdom of Cambodia is a developing country with an average economic growth of 7% for over two decades, and an increase of roughly 7.1% in 2017 and the following years. In 2016, the total revenue was USD20.02 billion, with a median income of USD1,435 per capita.These factors have made Cambodia transition from a low income country to a lower middle income country, with the poverty rate plummeting from 53.2% in 2004 to 13.5% in 2014.

3.The Kingdom of Cambodia has accepted various principles of international human rights as a foundation for its citizens to live in peace, as stipulated in Article 31 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia that, “The Kingdom of Cambodia recognizes and respects human rights as enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human rights and all the treaties and conventions related to human rights, women’s rights and children’s rights. Khmer citizens are equal before the law, enjoying the same rights, liberties and duties regardless of race, colour, sex, language, beliefs, religions, political tendencies, birth origin, social status, wealth or other situations. The exercise of personal rights and liberties by any individual shall not adversely affect the rights and freedom of others. The exercise of such rights and liberties shall be in accordance with the law”.

4.Cambodia is a signatory of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 16 December 1966 and came into force on 3 January 1976, in accordance with Article 27. Cambodia became a State Party to the Covenant on 26 May 1992. The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) recognises and respects all principles defined in this Covenant as stipulated in Article 31 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

5.Pursuant to Article 17 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the RGC submitted its initial report to the UN in December 2008. The report currently submitted is the combined fifth sixth and seventh report in response to the Committee’s recommendations from 2008 to 2019.

II.Responses to the Committee’s Recommendations

A.Judicial Sector

Recommendation No. 12

6.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, there are schools for training judges and lawyers. The training programme of the two schools includes lessons on human rights in which the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is also incorporated.

7.By 2018, the Kingdom of Cambodia provided judges with eight batches, with 55 judges a batch. A total of 440 judges were trained in human rights in general and in particular in economic, social and cultural rights. Currently, approximately 1,175 lawyershave been trained in human rights and economic, social and cultural rights.

8.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, the power of the rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is incorporated into national laws, which is a basis for a decision of a court as stipulated in Article 129 new of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia that, “Justice is rendered in the name of Khmer people in accordance with the legal procedures and the laws in force.”

Recommendation No. 31

9.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, an act of violence is an offence as defined in the Criminal Code, for example:

•Article 217: Intentional acts of violence committed against another person shall be punishable by imprisonment from one to three years and a fine from two million to six million Riels.

10.Therefore, in Cambodia, there is no culture of violence – violence occurs only in certain circumstances and it does not happen only to any activist or any Member of Parliament. Perpetrators regardless of forces, agents, state security, or non-state actors, shall be punished in accordance with the Criminal Law.

11.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, impacts on personal integrity such as torture, brutality, violence, intimidation and injuries are offences, which is enshrined in the Criminal Law. Judicial police have responsibility for investigating all these acts, dealing with offences and arresting perpetrators and bringing a prosecution against them and punishing them in accordance with the law.

12.The Phnom Penh Municipal Court announced a verdict, convicting those who beat three lawmakers on “intentional acts of violence with aggravating circumstances” and sentencing them to four years’ imprisonment; however, they were sentenced to only one year’s imprisonment and other three years were suspended; and they made collective civil reparation of 80 million Riels to the victims. In this case, the victims lodged an appeal against the civil reparation, demanding 100 million Riels for each of them. On 31 May 2018, the Court of Appeal issued an appeal judgement upholding the verdict of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

B.Establishment of National Human Rights Institution

Recommendation No. 13

13.The RGC has agreed in principle to establish a national human rights institution in accordance with the Paris Principles. To date, the Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) (the Government) has collaborated with civil society working groups to draft Law on the Establishment of National Human Rights Committee, giving priority to the civil society working groups to initiate this draft law.

14.The Royal Government working group and the civil society working groups have been debating this draft law on a number of occasions. To date, it has not been finalised yet. The CHRC will consult the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to Cambodia about it in order to make it consistent with the Paris Principles and acceptable in the situation of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

C.Anti-Corruption

Recommendation No. 14

15.The Law on Anti-Corruption was promulgated by Royal Kram No. NS/0401/004 dated 1 April 2010. Meanwhile, the RGC created an Anti-Corruption Unit on 17 April 2010, with its mandate to introduce preventive measures, prevent corruption, strengthen anti-corruption law enforcement, investigate offences, and arrest corruption offenders and bring them to court.

16.With its mandate, the Anti-Corruption Unit has introduced and implemented a three-target strategy, shifting the social behaviour and mind-set in line with the Law on Anti-Corruption; for example:

•The first target is disseminating the Law on Anti-Corruption, which was organised at two separate centres. It covers educational institutions from primary schools to tertiary education, with publication of Anti-Corruption textbooks for grades 4 to 12 students. At the same time, the subject of Anti-Corruption has also been included in the curriculum, and instructors responsible for teaching this subject have been given training;

•The second target is prevent corruption by means of declaration of assets and liabilities every two years, cooperation with ministries, institutions for providing transparent public services without additional charges, and attraction of the private sector to taking part in the fight against corruption. To date, over 100 private companies have signed memoranda with the Anti-Corruption Unit;

•The third target is launching a campaign to prevent corruption inside high school (Bac II) examinations and various professional recruitment competitions, as well as competitive bidding for investment.

17.With this aforesaid strategy, the Anti-Corruption Unit receives 500 to 600 complaints each year. The majority of the case files that the Anti-Corruption Unit has submitted to the court are offences of misappropriation of public funds.

D.Housing and Land Sector

Recommendation No. 15

18.Pursuant to the Sub-decree No.69 OrNKr.BK dated 28th April 2016, 13 areas of the protected forest and forest conservation were transferred, as in Annex 1 of the Sub-decree from Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to Ministry of Environment for further management. Five production forest areas were transferred, as in Annex 2 of the Sub-decree from Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to Ministry of Environment for further management and Ministry of Environment shall further incorporate the five production forest areas into the areas of the protected forest and forest conservation. 73 economic land concession areas were transferred, as in Annex 3 of the Sub-decree from Ministry of Environment to Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for further management.

19.With regard to the grant of economic land concessions, the RGC has paid close attention to the requirements for sustainable development and citizens’ benefits; for example:

•Development of agricultural intensification and agro-industry activities;

•Increment in employment at rural areas in the framework of agricultural intensification and job opportunities with various ways of making a living, contract production application and the natural resources management by an appropriate ecological system;

•Provision of new jobs to rural citizens in addition to their existing jobs. Roughly 51,319 people have been employed at the economic land concessions;

•Availability of infrastructure such as roads, schools, health centres, other services; and apparently the companies constructed roads with a length of 13,867 km.

Recommendation No. 16

20.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, property ownership is protected by the Constitutional Law and Land Law which stipulate that all persons, individually or collectively, shall have the right to ownership. Legal private ownership shall be protected by law and expropriation shall be possible only if public utility demands in the cases stipulated by the law and if prior appropriate and fair compensation is granted.

21.In compliance with the abovementioned legal principles, by the end of 2017, Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction registered 4,881,582 land lots,of which 4,647,886 land titles, equal to 66.4% of the estimated 7 million land lots in total were handed to the citizens. Among the total land lots, 18 communities with 1,794 families receiving 498 land titles cover 15,705.87 hectares of the indigenous people’s community lands in 9 communities in Ratanakiri province, 7 communities in Mondulkiri province, and 2 communities in Kratie province.

22.The Royal Government who provides all economic land concessions regularly assesses both social and environmental impacts and consult those concerned, in particular, affected communities in order to find satisfactory solutions acceptable for compensation settlement, resettlement, provision of agricultural land in line with the Royal Government policies such as the creation of agricultural production and agro-industry using cutting-edge technologies:

•Creation of more job opportunities;

•Promotion of people’s livelihood;

•Environmental protection and sustainable natural resources management;

•Avoidance or minimization of reasons for negative social impacts;

•Linkage and mutual support between economic land concessions and social land concessions if they exist;

•Turning raw materials into commodities as defined in concession contracts.

23.With regard to the Lower Sesan II Hydropower Dam project having an impact on 6 villages in 3 communes, with 860 families/houses, the Royal Government has compensated 784 families/houses accounting for 94.5% and has been consulting and further supporting the remaining 46 families/houses accounting for 5.5%. The compensation includes:

•Creation of new villages with adequate public infrastructure;

•Construction of an 80-square-metre house for each family on an area of 20 metres by 50 metres;

•Provision of 5-hectare land ownership to each family;

•Provision of one-year support such as foodstuff, lamp oil, seeds, and pesticides, to each family for embarking upon new lives;

•Provision of land of forest products, burial grounds, and places of worship in respect of the traditions of their communities.

Recommendation No. 29

24.The RGC adopted the National Housing Policy in May 2014 in order to provide general people throughout the country, especially low and medium income households and vulnerable groups, with access to decent housing so that they can live in safety, welfare, and with dignity and to improve the livelihood of the poor who live in both urban and rural areas.

25.To implement the National Housing Policy, Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction is responsible for organisational structure at national and sub-national levels. The Royal Government to date has spent a considerable amount of resources in support of its implementation, for example:

(a)Granting of social land concession for residential purposes including:

•Provision of 6,608 land lots to ex-armed forces and their families;

•Provision of 6,872 land lots to police and military families;

•Provision of 10,794 land lots to the poor.

(b)Provision of free housing buildings including:

•Construction of 1,680 houses for ex-armed forces and their families;

•Construction of 4,077 houses for police and military families.

(c)Construction of affordable public housing including:

•Construction of 2,000 houses in cooperation with World Bridge Land;

•Construction of 5,340 houses in cooperation with B & BM Co. Ltd.

Recommendation No. 30

26.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, there is no policy or action to force people to leave their homes. What has happened so far was the authorities relocated those who temporarily and illegally built their houses on the state land, and the Royal Government needs the locations for development. For every public interest need, especially the development of the locations where people live illegally, the authorities at all times consult all parties concerned in order to create new settlements or provide appropriate compensation.

27.Measures the authorities took to relocate people include:

•Arrangements of housing infrastructure on new locations and provision of legal land occupations to those relocated;

•Paying those who do not agree to go and live on new locations provided is a proper policy;

•As aforesaid in paragraph 23 of this report.

28.To ensure effective implementation of the management and the use of state lands between state public land and state private land, by the first semester of 2017, the Royal Government registered 890 land titles of state lands, equal to 482,412 hectares, 68 ares and 92 centiares.

Recommendation No. 42

29.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, homelessness rates are very low. However, the number of people in rural areas leaving their homes to work in urban areas in the industry and service sectors, and urbanisation significantly increases. A number of these migrants have temporarily settled in the state public land or unused private land owned by private individuals, which may be considered that legally they do not have their own homes. Therefore, the Royal Government has been taking action to resolve this problem as indicated in paragraph 24 of this report.

E.The Rights of Persons with Disabilities

30.The Law on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was promulgated by Royal Kram No. NS/RKT/0709/010 dated 3 July 2009 for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom, and interest of persons with disabilities, with equal access to economic, social and cultural rights without discrimination.

31.To implement the aforesaid Law, the RGC developed the National Strategic Plan on Disabilities (2014-2018) in order to ensure that persons with disabilities have full and equal access to economic, social and cultural rights in social activities, for example:

•In 2018, 2,839 persons with disabilities (equal to 1.93% of civil servants) joined 40 government ministries and institutions and other 3,055 persons with disabilities joined 77 private sectors;

•In 2018, 8,658 persons with disabilities received state policy scheme while 117 poor persons and persons with disabilities received vocational trainings from the non-governmental organisations.

32.Meanwhile, the RGC has made it possible for persons with disabilities to take part in cultural activities organised every year including:

•Marathon for Persons with Disabilities;

•Autism and Down Syndrome Day of Persons with Disabilities;

•National and International Dumb and Deaf Day;

•National and International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December.

33.In addition, the RGC has provided opportunities for persons with disabilities to participate in international programmes, for example:

•From 2005 to 2018, 2,570 persons with intellectual disabilities participated in Special Olympic Competition, receiving 1,570 bronze, silver and gold medals. 70 contestants participated in the Greater Mekong Sub-region Contests seven times, receiving two gold and three silver medals. The persons with disabilities participated in an Asia Pacific event, receiving one silver medal, Special Olympic World Summer Games three times, receiving nine gold, seven silver and eight bronze medals, and Special Olympic World Winter Games one time, receiving one gold and one silver medals;

•Youths with disabilities who won Global IT Challenge were sent to compete in Korea, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam;

•In 2018, persons with disabilities received physical rehabilitation services, for example:

•25,864 persons with disabilities received work rehabilitation services;

•56,112 persons with disabilities received medical rehabilitation services;

•2,644 poor persons with disabilities living in communities received a 30,000 Riels state policy scheme per annum for medical care and treatment.

F.Education Sector

Recommendation No. 18

34.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, Chhab Srey [Women’s Code of Conduct] has not been incorporated into the educational programme at the primary level yet. In contrast, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has been promoting women’s rights by urging girls to receive more education and integrating the gender health programme, pursuant to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, into moral and civic educational programme.

Recommendation No. 34

35.Article 24 of the Education Law states that, “The Khmer language is the official language and a subject of the fundamental curriculums at public schools providing general education.”The language for Khmer learners of minority Khmer origin shall be determined by Prakas of the Ministry in charge of Education. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport issued Prakas No. 48 dated 10 January 2013 on the determination of the language for Khmer learners of minority Khmer origin.

36.Based on the aforesaid policy, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has:

•Implemented bilingual curriculum and educational materials for indigenous people living in 15 districts, with 80 schools, 205 teachers (83 females), 5,004 students (2,421 females) in Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Strung Treng, Kratie provinces;

•Established five native language alphabet writing systems: Tampuan, Kreung, Phnong, Kavet and Brao, mainly using Khmer characters and the languages used include Tampuan, Kreung, Phnong, Kavet;

•Made multilingual curriculum and textbooks available for indigenous people;

•Carried out multilingual educational programme from grades 1 to 3, using the language patterns of grade 1 (80% of native language, 20% of Khmer), grade 2 (60% of native language, 40% of Khmer), grade 3 (30% of native language, 70% of Khmer) and above grade 4, students learn 100% of Khmer curriculum;

•Integrated 25 qualified multilingual education contract teachers (five women) into state school teaching positions;

•Employed 117 ethnic minority regular teachers (47 women) to teach multilingual classes;

•Developed the Multilingual Education National Action Plan 2019–2023.

37.The multilingual educational programme for indigenous children has been implemented in 18 districts of five targeted provinces: Ratanakiri, Strung Treng, Mondulkiri, Preah Vihear, and Kratie. It has been carried out in three public kindergartens, with 115 pupils (57 girls) and 104 community kindergartens, with 2,022 pupils (1,027 girls).

38.The languages used in the multilingual educational programme include Tampuan, Kreung, Phnong, Kuy, Kraol, Kavet, Kachok, and Brao.

Recommendation No. 35

39.The education sector is a priority of the reform programmes of the RGC who has been concentrating its attention on improving the quality of human resources in terms of capability, technicality, and morality. From this viewpoint, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport introduced the education reform programme for teachers and school management, as well as school environment improvement, which is a measure taken to improve the quality of education to the extent possible for human resources development.

40.Based on the education reform programme for teachers, the Royal Government has encouraged teachers by offering salary, remuneration, allowance in accordance with their status and hierarchies, with effect from April 2019:

(a)Salary:

•Newly graduated teachers with the regular status “C” receive a minimum salary of 1,200,100 Riels;

•Newly graduated teachers with the regular status “B” receive a minimum salary of 1,292,000 Riels;

•Newly graduated teachers with the regular status “A” receive a minimum salary of 1,407,300 Riels.

(b)Subsistence Allowance:

•When encountering difficulties, each receives 80,000 Riels;

•To remote areas, Type 1, each receives 100,000 Riels;

•To remote areas, Type 2, each receives 120,000 Riels.

Recommendation No. 43

41.Considering the education sector a priority of the reform programmes, the RGC has allocated and gradually increased its budget for education at all levels. In 2017, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport received a total budget of 2,383,672.6 million Riels – an increase on the previous year’s 2,029,896.9 million Riels and an increase up to 2,705,456.5 million Riels in 2018.

42.This budget was allocated to sub-sectors such as pre-primary education for young children, primary education, high school and technical education, higher education, non-formal education, youth development, and physical education and sport, provincial/municipal education programme and school functioning.

43.Not only has the RGC paid attention to the formal education, it has focused on non-formal education as well, issuing Sub-decree No. 20 dated 5 March 2015 on the Administration and Management of Teaching Services in Non-formal Education.

44.Furthermore, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has set up the following national and subnational guarantee mechanisms:

•Re-enrolment of 636 classes, with 11,404 dropouts (5,152 females) who came back to class, and 10,099 dropouts (4,648 females) who were sent back to class;

•The Income Generating Programme had 647 classes, with 10,199 participants (6,638 females);

•The Primary Education Equity Programme had 332 classes, with 6,394 pupils (3,023 girls);

•The Accelerated Education Programme aims to provide access to education for over-age students in 23 districts in seven provinces of Kampong Thom, Kratie, Preah Vihear, Strung Treng, Kampot, Koh Kong, and Bateay Meanchey, at 92 schools, with 348 (97 females) head-teachers, teachers and other stakeholders, and 164 classes, with 4,250 students (1,830 females).

G.Health Sector

Recommendation No. 19

45.The RGC has actively been fighting against HIV/AIDS, establishing the mechanisms including the Law on the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS enacted on 29 July 2002. The National AIDS Authority which was established under Sub-decree No. 109 dated 23 October 2006 and the National Centre for HIV/AIDS under the Ministry of Health have developed the National Strategic Plan in response to HIV/AIDS in the health sector (2016–2020).

46.Through the aforesaid mechanisms, in the Kingdom of Cambodia, there is no distinction or discrimination in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Prevention interventions including HIV prevention and treatment services have been targeted at vulnerable women and high-risk groups such as female entertainment workers, pregnant women, and sexually abused women. Women have been provided with treatment services after being abused, and women’s healthcare services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, sexual and reproductive health services and medical examination services, and the treatment of sexual transmitted diseases have been promoted nationwide.

47.Thanks to the Royal Government made efforts, the rates of transmitted diseases in Cambodia have steadily dropped as follows:

(a)The Fight against HIV/AIDS:

•As a result, the new HIV infection rates, especially among women, in Cambodia have declined since 2006. The National Centre for HIV/AIDS has estimated that new trends in HIV infections in Cambodia would continue to reduce and the number of HIV-positive women would be less than that of men from 2017 onwards. The United Nations has recognised the remarkable achievement in the reduction of the spread of HIV/AIDS and the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients without discrimination, conferring the awards on the RGC such as WHO Award on 5 April 2006 recognising that the Kingdom of Cambodia achieved the target of treating over 50% HIV/AIDS patients in 2005; the United Nations Award in October 2010 recognising that the Kingdom of Cambodia achieved the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); and the United Nations Declaration on Combating HIV/AIDS on 25 July 2017 in which the Kingdom of Cambodia among the seven countries in the world (the Kingdom of Cambodia, Singapore, Botswana, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Iceland) managed to achieve the targets of 90, 90, 90 (90% of people living with HIV/AIDS were aware of infection conditions, 90% of people living with HIV/AIDS received treatments, and 90% of HIV/AIDS patients were treated with low infection. The Ministry of Health and development partners have made the effort with the support of the Royal Government and the experience in the prevention of the spread and treatment of HIV/AIDS to reach the goal of eliminating mother-to-child transmission in 2025 and the general public in 2030;

(b)The Fight against Tuberculosis:

•As a result, the Ministry of Health achieved the Millennium Development Goals (1990–2015), reducing 50% of the incidence, prevalence and fatal rates of tuberculosis since 2011, with 100% of DOTS coverage for all health facilities. The Kingdom of Cambodia has succeeded in fighting against tuberculosis, according to the World Health Organization’s report in Geneva.

Recommendation No. 32

48.As of 2018, there are a total of 1,457 public health facilities in the Kingdom of Cambodia (129 health posts, 1,205 health centres, 114 referral hospitals, and 9 national hospitals). There are a total of 6,807 midwives (272 holding midwifery bachelor’s degrees, 4,279 holding secondary midwifery certificates, and 2,256 holding primary midwifery certificates). They all are deployed at all public health facilities – especially standing midwives are stationed at every health centre.

49.Along with the deployment of midwives to health centres nationwide, the Ministry of Health has also arranged waiting rooms for baby delivery and rooms after baby delivery – there are a total of 400 rooms as of 2018. Moreover, the Ministry of Health has arranged 17 maternity waiting homes for pregnant women living at remote areas by 2018.

50.To improve the quality of obstetrics and health services, with the aim of reducing mother, infant and child mortality rates, by 2018, the Ministry of Health has provided a total of 681 midwives and 91 doctors with emergency obstetric and new-born care training. In addition to the emergency obstetric training for midwives, the Ministry of Health has trained health care personnel in safe abortion pursuant to the Law on Abortion. As of 2018, 637 health facilities and 1,733 health personnel are able to provide safe abortion services and handle the abortion complications.

Recommendation No. 33

51.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, there is not any law on mental health yet. However, the RGC has set up various mechanisms to administer and provide mental health services, for example:

•Establishment of the Sub-Committee for Mental Health for coordination and development of the mental health sector;

•Creation of the Department of Mental Health and Drug Abuse under the Ministry of Health;

•Development of mental health training programmes for doctors and treating physicians, and integration of this mental health training into the curriculum of the University of Health Sciences for specialised trainings and for medical students;

•Inclusion of the mental health sector as a priority in the Health Strategic Plan 2008–2015, Health Strategic Plan 2016–2020, the National Plan for Mental Health and Drug Abuse 2011–2015, and the National Strategic Plan for Risk Reduction caused by Drug Use 2016–2020.

52.Along with the aforesaid mechanisms, the Ministry of Health annually conducts training for doctors and nurses to ensure the provision of mental health services and drug abuses at the health facilities. As of 2018, there are 431 health facilities (2 national hospitals, 97 referral hospitals and 332 health centres), and 96,299 people received mental health services, of whom 60,368 are women, equal to 63%.

H.Equal Rights between Men and Women

Recommendation No. 20

53.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, equal rights between men and women are protected by the Constitution in which Article 45.3 states that men and women have equal rights in all fields. In this regard, the RGC has established policy, legal and institutional mechanisms for coordinating and administering the implementation of equal rights between men and women in all fields, in particular economic, social and cultural fields.

54.To ensure the promotion of equal rights for men and women in economic, social and cultural fields, the RGC has established institutional mechanisms from national to sub-national levels for promoting gender equality in the following fields:

(a)National Mechanism:

•The Cambodian National Council for Women is an inter-sectoral institution which plays a role in coordinating, following up, assessing law enforcement, policies and recommendations, especially the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;

•The Ministry of Women’s Affairs is a government institution that promotes and coordinates with public institutions, civil society organisations, partner organisations, and private sector for mainstreaming gender issues into the development programmes and policies of each sector;

•The Gender Technical Working Groups of the ministries and institutions are responsible for mainstreaming gender issues into the development programmes of relevant sectors;

(b)Sub-national Mechanism:

•Women’s Affairs Provincial/Municipal Offices;

•Women’s Affairs City, District/Khan Offices;

•Consultative Committee on Women and Child Affairs at Municipal, Provincial, City, District, Khan levels;

•Multi-sectoral Working Groups in response to Gender-Based Violence in eight targeted provinces – coverage of all provinces will be expanded;

•Commune/Sangkat Committee for Women and Children.

55.With considerable effort put into the above-mentioned mechanisms, Cambodian women enjoy equal rights as men do to obtain the following economic, social and cultural benefits:

•The number of women aged 15 to 64 (2017) participating in wage employment consisted of 35.3% in the agricultural sector, 27.3% in the industrial sector, 37.6% in the service sector. In 2016, 30,825 labourers, of whom 12,125 are female, were sent to work overseas. The National Employment Agency provided 2,443 labourers, of whom 1,536 are female, with employment at local areas. At the same time, women also received leadership roles, especially in the micro-enterprise sector – 60% and 40% of women and men, respectively, are enterprise owners.

56.In the social affairs sector, women also enjoy the same rights as men do; for example, in 2016, 1,092,002 labourers and employees, of whom 616,757 are females, from 5,994 factories/enterprises made contributions to the National Social Security Fund. 13,351 females out of 19,242 victims, received job risk prestation. A total of 379 production and saving groups in 11 provinces provided handicraft, food processing, business management, nutrition and life skills training to 5,629 participants, of whom 4,860 are women receiving new technical skills for business/production expansion, and productivity and quality increment in the markets.

57.In addition to the two mechanisms, Cambodian women have been enjoying the same cultural rights as men; for example:

•More than 3,000 women in rural areas participate every year in the vocational training, and management and business skill training, which enables them to run their own businesses or be employed by factories/companies;

•As of 2015, women enrolling in the vocational training in the formal system accounted for 21%, of whom 9% pursued Master’s Degrees/Specialised Technology Associate Degrees and Bachelor’s Degrees, and 9% studied Diplomas in Vocational Training courses. In addition, a total of 50% female students pursued the courses on information technology, telecommunication and business skills. Meanwhile, with regard to the vocational training in the non-formal system, 50% of female students enrolled in short-term courses on agricultural and income generating skills;

•In the education sector, currently there are 133,736 female and 132,870 male students attending high school; 49% female students pursuing Associate Degrees; 45.9% Bachelor’s Degrees; 21.6% Master’s Degrees; and 5.1% Doctoral Degrees.

I.Labour Sector

Recommendation No. 21

58.In response to labour requirements, the RGC developed the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Sector Development Programme 2014–2018 in line with labour market needs with the aim of improving people’s living standards, reducing poverty, promoting economic growth in accordance with the RGC Political Platform, Rectangular Strategy, National Strategic Development Plan 2014–2018 and Vision 2030.

59.According to its strategic plan, in 2018, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training provided vocational training for 27 postgraduates, 4,696 graduates, 4,133 Specialised Technology Master’s and Associate Degree students, 2,168 Long-Term Vocational Education Diploma students, 27,135 Vocational Education Certificate students, and 2,521 Grade 7th Bridge Programme students, and 27,700 apprentices, with the following details:

List of trainees and students completing the courses from TVET Institute under the Ministry (2014–2018)

Level	Technical and Vocational Education and Training	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Total	Female	Total	Female	Total	Female	Total	Female	Total	Female
I. Public
1	Post-Graduate Level	48	13	6	-	-	-	18	1	27	2
2	Graduate Level	4 144	1 119	2 588	622	2 811	709	6 427	1 860	4 696	1 830
3	Specialised Technology Master ’ s/Associate Degrees	1 830	413	1 650	250	1 688	244	3 525	906	4 133	1 020
4	Long-term Vocational Education Diplomas	1 246	314	714	123	1 229	79	2 135	599	2 168	550
5	Vocational Education Certificates	63 034	35 697	27 686	15 605	17 800	9 612	16 233	7 755	27 135	15 932
6	Grade 7th Bridge Programme	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2 521	795
Total I	70 302	37 556	32 644	16 600	23 528	10 644	28 338	11 121	40 680	20 129
II. Private
1	Post-Graduate Level	-	-	25	5	1	-	29	3	24	5
2	Graduate Level	1 197	431	1 280	556	1 968	934	1 366	645	760	357
3	Specialised Technology Master ’ s/Associate Degrees	366	106	298	92	475	192	306	128	217	68
4	Long-term Vocational Education Diplomas	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	2	22	9
5	Vocational Education Certificates	10 522	4 869	12 308	10 158	580	320	1 065	344	3 231	2 802
Total II	12 085	5 406	13 911	10 811	3 024	1 446	2 771	1 122	4 254	3 241
III. Organisations-Associations
1	Post-Graduate Level	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Graduate Level	45	30	42	20	46	27	91	48	66	44
3	Specialised Technology Master ’ s/Associate Degrees	544	199	617	129	605	204	348	136	558	247
4	Long-term Vocational Education Diplomas	841	301	815	372	982	482	370	218	694	337
5	Vocational Education Certificates	1 673	956	5 940	2 193	4 840	2 675	5 140	3 170	6 000	1 720
Total III	3 103	1 486	7 414	2 714	6 473	3 388	5 949	3 572	7 318	2 348
Grand-total ( I+II+III)	85 490	44 448	53 969	30 125	33 025	15 478	37 058	15 815	52 252	25 718

List of apprentices and employees receiving training from 2014-2018

Year	Number of Apprentices	Female	Miscellaneous
2014	11 825	8 601
2015	14 096	10 446
2016	21 296	14 310
2017	23 331	18 927
2018	27 700	19 846
Total	98 248	72 130

Recommendation No. 22

60.In principle, equal pay for equal work between men and women in Cambodia is defined in Article 36 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia that Khmer citizens of both sexes shall receive equal pay for equal work, and Article 106 of the Labour Law states that for work of equal conditions, professional skill and output, the wage shall be equal for all workers subject to this law, regardless of their origin, sex or age.

61.Pursuant to the aforesaid legal principles, in practice, wages in Cambodia are paid according to agreements between employees and employers as specified in employment contracts based on professional skills regardless of sex; that is, both men and women shall receive equal pay for same professions.

Recommendation No. 23

62.In Cambodia, in principle, the minimum wage for workers is defined in Article 104 of the Labour Law that the wage must be at least equal to the guaranteed minimum wage; that is, it must ensure every worker of a decent standard of living compatible with human dignity, and Article 107 of this Law states that elements to take into consideration for determining the minimum wage shall include, to the extent possible:

(a)The needs of workers and their families in relation to the general level of salary in the country, the cost of living, social security allowances, and the comparative standard of living of other social groups;

(b)Economic factors, including the requirements of economic development, productivity, and the advantages of achieving and maintaining a high level of employment.

63.Pursuant to the above-mentioned legal principles, in Cambodia, since 2014, the minimum wage has been determined and unanimously agreed upon 5 principles by the parties involved:

(a)Discussions about the minimum wage are to be held annually;

(b)The minimum wage must be a figure or a predictable growth rate; that is, it must increase steadily;

(c)The win-win principle is adhered to in negotiations;

(d)Negotiations are to be based on the consensus reached by the members attending the meeting, or are to be determined by a majority vote through secret ballot held at the second meeting in case of a lack of consensus; and

(e)The legal and official data of national institutions or entities responsible for statistical production, and social and economic criteria are to be used as a basis for discussions.

64.According to the aforesaid principles and criteria, the minimum wage for workers has steadily been increased. In particular, since early 2019,garment and footwear workers have received the minimum wage of USD182 a month.

Recommendation No. 24

65.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, workers’ trade union rights are respected and guaranteed in Article 36.5 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia that Khmer citizens of both sexes shall have the right to create trade unions and participate as their members. To safeguard the rights, the Law on Trade Unions was promulgated on 17 May 2016. The purposes of this Law are to:

(a)Provide for the rights and freedoms of all enterprises, establishments, and all persons under the provisions of the Labour Law and personnel working in the air and maritime transportation to establish and join trade unions; and

(b)Determine the organisation and functioning of the professional organisations of workers and employers in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

66.By the first quarter of 2019, 4,949 professional organisations, of which 4,722 are local trade unions, 189 trade union federations, 29 trade union confederations, and 9 employers’ associations, registered with the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training.

67.In addition to the legal mechanisms which allow professional organisations to help protect the employees’ and employers’ rights and interests in the Kingdom of Cambodia, there are also other mechanisms such as the Arbitration Council and the Judiciary for helping resolve labour disputes. To enhance the capacity and efficiency in a transparent and technical manner, the Royal Government has established a specialised court unit, which is called the Labour Court, for resolving labour disputes.

68.Pursuant to the Law on the Organisation of the Courts, the Labour Court of the First Instance shall have jurisdiction to adjudicate labour cases, in accordance with the provisions of labour procedure. The Labour Court is composed of a judge, attached with two labour advisers, one of whom is an employee and the other an employer. Currently, the Labour Court is not operational yet as the provisions of labour procedure are not in place. The Labour Ministry and relevant parties including ILO, Arbitration Council Foundation, and the Ministry of Justice are collaborating to develop draft law on trial procedure for labour disputes.

Recommendation No. 25

69.While protecting the interests of Cambodian workers, the RGC has also taken a keen interest in combating child labour and protecting children from all forms of economic and sexual exploitation, including the worst forms of child labour, amongst the various forms of child exploitation through the enforcement of labour law and labour inspection mechanisms.

70.To ensure the fight against child labour and all forms of child exploitation, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training has established the National Committee for Counter Child Labour and reformed the labour inspection mechanism. With these two mechanisms, child labour in factories, enterprises was gradually prevented and decreased, with 34 cases in 2014, 13 in 2015, 4 in 2016, and only 2 in 2017. With the findings from 2013 to 2016, the National Committee and the inspection team timely prevented a total of 28,500 children from being expected to work in factories, enterprises and handicrafts.

71.In addition to the inspection mechanism, the legal mechanism has been strengthened for effective enforcement. For instance, judges, prosecutors and other relevant law enforcement officials were trained in all forms of child exploitation law, namely the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, Penal Code and other labour laws. According to the report of the inspection team of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, 379 brick factories, with a total of 5,363 labourers, of which 2,144 are women, were inspected; and the factories using child labour were shut down by the ministry.

J.Anti-Human Trafficking

Recommendation No. 26

72.The RGC regards human trafficking, especially women and children, as a crime that seriously violates human rights and dignity, especially women and children, by making all forms of anti-human t:rafficking activities a priority for the protection of security, safety and dignity of mankind

•The Kingdom of Cambodia is a Member State of the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and the Protocols Thereto (2003);

•The Kingdom of Cambodia is a Member State of the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons (2015);

•The Kingdom of Cambodia participated in the preparation and adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (2018).

73.The RGC adopted the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation in 2008 and has established following national mechanisms in response to human trafficking:

•National Committee for Counter Trafficking(NCCT)chaired by Samdech Krolahom Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. The NCCT members are from 21 ministries and fivespecialised unitsand are divided into sixinter-ministerial/institutional working groups led by ministers of specialised ministries in order to implement four key strategies; and there are mechanism networks at the sub-national level, municipality, provinces, to communes/Sangkats for broad cooperation with civil society and international organisations, and expansion of cooperation with the authorities of the countries involved. The NCCT is tasked with preventing, suppressing, and protecting all forms of all human trafficking, especially women and children, including sexual exploitation, forced labour and labour exploitation, etc.;

•Cambodia is a Member State of the ASEAN Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons:

•The Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT)for six countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region; and

•ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC)for ten ASEAN countries;

•Bali Process for Asian countries, some other countries.

74.The six NCCT working groups are:

(a)The Inter-ministerial/institutional Working Group or Preventive Work headed by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport is tasked with leading and concentrating on all preventive activities of human trafficking, trafficking and labour exploitation, trafficking and sexual exploitation, which commonly occurs in communities, to all ages, especially children and teenagers;

(b)The Law Enforcement Working Group headed by the Commissioner General of the General Commissariat of National Police, the Ministry of Interior, has investigated, searched for, suppressed, rescued victims, and taken preventive measures based on their areas of expertise and found new offences of human trafficking which were timely and directly cracked down and through cooperation with countries involved;

(c)The Justice Working Group (JWG) headed by the Minister of Justice has effectively prosecuted human trafficking offences and sexual exploitation in accordance with national laws. The JWG has taken the lead in making relevant laws such as the Juvenile Justice Law, the Extradition Treaty and Treaty on the Transfer of Prisoners in addition to the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation and drafted the Law on Protection of Witnesses, the Surrogacy Law, the Law on Human Smuggling, and the Law on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. The Ministry of Justice has established a central authority to facilitate international cooperation in law enforcement, particularly in relation to transnational crimes;

(d)The Victims Support Working Group headed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation is responsible for rehabilitating, integrating victims into communities and repatriating them from other countries and in the country, and cooperating with partner organisations to provide them with necessary services. To protect them, the RGC has the Guidelines on Forms and Procedures for Identification of Victims of Human Trafficking for appropriate service provision throughout the country;

(e)The Migration Working Group headed by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training is responsible for protecting the safety of migrant labourers, in accordance with the RGC Migration Policy, from the stage of their recruitment, training, deployment to the workplace in target countries, until the end of their contracts and homecomings. In the name of the RGC, the Labour Ministry has collaborated with the countries that demand labour force by signing agreements and memoranda so as to orderly and legally protect the safety of labourers and their entitlements;

(f)The International Cooperation Working Group headed by the Minister of Women’s Affairs has collaborated with the countries that have signed bilateral and multilateral memoranda or agreements with Cambodia on combating human trafficking and expanded cooperation with various countries with which Cambodia has not signed memoranda.

75.In order to implement anti-human trafficking activities characterised as transnational crimes, the RGC, along with the NCCT, has developed strategic plans and action plans, employing four strategies similar to all regional and global strategies:

(a)Rules, policies and promotion of collaboration;

(b)Prevention;

(c)Promotion of law enforcement and criminal justice, and

(d)Protection of victims.

76.All of which have effectively and actively been implemented. The outcomes of internal and external collaboration have been compiled and assessed, and annual directions have been taken and widely publicised by the NCCT.

77.As a result, in 2017, suppression of human trafficking offences and sexual exploitation included:

(a)Prevention: Direct and indirect educational outreach activities have widely been implemented via the media and national campaigns, including National Anti-Human Trafficking Day 12 December; Inter-religious Day against Human Trafficking; public forums in accordance with the village and commune safety policy; and various meeting forums, which could have reached roughly five million people, and preventive measures have been taken in rural communities, schools, resorts, tourism sites, factories and other enterprises. To protect the safety of migrant labourers, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training has registered and licensed 85 private recruitment agencies for taking charge of recruitment, training, and deployment of labourers to work in the countries that have signed memoranda or agreements with Cambodia and has placed labour attachés in the Cambodian Embassy to the countries where Cambodian labourers are working for helping coordinate and address law-related issues;

(b)Law enforcement and criminal justice: In 2018, the General Commissariat of National Police cracked down on a number of human trafficking and sexual exploitation offences, namely two surrogate mothers whose infants were to be taken out the country illegally, 43 surrogate mothers, and 10 suspects and those involved were detained and sent to court for prosecution. Numerous measures were adopted to control border checkpoints. In collaboration with the Royal Thai Government, legal documents were processed for a total of 1,050,000 Cambodian workers in Thailand to curb influx of illegal migrants which could lead to the risk of taking humans across the border illegally with the purpose of trafficking them. The results are as follows:

Offence	Law Enforcement Authorities Taken Action	Courts Taken Action
Number of Cases	Number of Offenders	Number of Victims	Sentence of Imprisonment
Number of Cases	Detention	Arrest Warrant
Human Trafficking	48	72	129	58	129	45
Sexual Exploitation	111	131	216
Total	159	203	345	58	129	45

(c)Protection of victims: In 2017, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation collaborated with partner organisations, receiving 243 victims (119 females) who returned to Cambodia from nine countries through the Cambodian Embassy. While returning to Cambodia, they were served, educated, counselled and referred to appropriate services, including legal services at victims assistance centres of partner organisations and at communities so that they receive rehabilitation opportunities and a better choice of living;

(d)International cooperation: The NCCT, specialised ministries and border provinces have broadly, bilaterally and multilaterally collaborated with various countries to prevent and combat all forms of human trafficking. The six Greater Mekong Sub-region countries: Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam have signed multilateral memoranda, and Cambodia-Vietnam, Cambodia-Thailand, Cambodia-China, Cambodia-India are prepared to sign bilateral memoranda and continue to sign bilateral memoranda with other countries in the region.

K.Social Services

Recommendation No. 27

78.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, great attention has been drawn to social support and services in order that its citizens are able to enjoy the economic, social and cultural rights that the RGC has incorporated into the National Strategic Development Plan, contributing its budget along with other support programmes.

79.Housing support (households) and services are described in paragraphs 24 and 25 of this report. As regards food aid and services, the RGC has established the National Committee for Disaster Management for providing food aid to flood, typhoon, house fire victims. Along with this national mechanism, the Cambodian Red Cross chaired by Samdech Kittipritbandit Bun Rany Hun Sen has been providing foodstuff to people in need, particularly poor people living in all areas nationwide. Furthermore, the King of the Kingdom of Cambodia has handed foodstuff in person to poor people living in rural areas.

80.The RGC has made health promotion a priority for human resources investment, increasing its budget for the health sector every year in order that healthcare services are promoted for the poor and persons with disabilities through the implementation of the following mechanisms:

(a)Implementation of free healthcare policy at public healthcare centres nationwide, including research and treatment of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, the provision of preventive medicines and micronutrients;

(b)State-Sponsored Programme fully funded by the government pays the poor for all healthcare services and those who are unable to afford to pay public healthcare services;

(c)Health Equity Fund provides healthcare services to the poor with equity and priority cards. The cards are provided through identification of poor households. This fund pays the poor for healthcare services, including travel expenses for pregnant women coming for medical check-up or baby delivery, meals for patient sitters at the hospital, and travel expenses for returning patients home;

(d)Reproductive Health Project under the Cambodian-German bilateral cooperation pays healthcare services to the poor, vulnerable people, and persons with disabilities, including birth control, baby delivery, safe abortion, child growth monitoring, cervical cancer screening, and cataract surgery;

(e)The National Social Security Fund provides workers/employees in the formal economy with job risk prestation and welfare payments.

81.The RGC regards the education sector as a main priority for human resources development and, for this reason, has gradually increased the budget for educational services and social support as described in paragraphs 41 to 44 of this report.

Recommendation No. 28

82.The Council for Agricultural and Rural Development plays a role as a command unit in assisting the Royal Government to coordinate agricultural and rural development, in close collaboration with relevant ministries/institutions, sub-national administration, development partners, civil society and private sector, and takes responsibility for managing, coordinating, monitoring, assessing and offering advice on the preparation and implementation of programmes and policies, as well as other strategies in relation to agricultural and rural development, food security and nutrition, social protection and promotion of one-village-one-product movement, and strengthening intervention strategies in response to the food insecurity emergency.

83.Along with the establishment of the aforesaid mechanism, the National Committee for Disaster Management has launched a disaster risk reduction programme in the development plans at all levels through the development and implementation of action plans in each community and has strengthened emergency preparedness and responses in order to ensure the effective and timely implementation of the action plans. In 2018, in response to the emergency situation, the National Committee for Disaster Management and development partners provided foodstuff to 219,828 families (or 989,226 persons) of house fire, typhoon, and flood victims.

84.While strengthening intervention strategies in response to the escalation of food insecurity, the RGC has also addressed general foodstuff and nutrition issues, adopting the National Strategy for Food Security and Nutrition (2014-2018) and the National Action Plan for the Zero Hunger Challenge by 2025.

85.Meanwhile, the Royal Government has established a Multi-sectoral Technical Working Group on Social Protection, Food Security and Nutrition in order to raise fund for implementing prioritised work in relation to food security and nutrition, and promote harmonisation with development partners with regard to food security and nutrition in Cambodia.

86.Over the past 20 years, the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development, head of the Multi-sectoral Technical Working Group on Social Protection, Food Security and Nutrition, has closely collaborated with relevant ministries, institutions, sub-national authorities, development partners, civil society and the private sector to coordinate and implement prioritised policies and strategies in the field of food security and nutrition, which has made the food security and nutrition situation of Cambodian people improve with a good sense of pride. If compared to 20 years ago, Cambodia, previously a food insecure country, has now become a food exporter and the index of global hunger has dropped from 43.5% in 2000 to 23.7% in 2014. The malnutrition of women and children under five has also improved remarkably. The rates of stunted growth in 5-year-old children dropped from 50% in 2000 to 32% in 2014; the rates of underweight children plummeted from 39% in 2000 to 24% in 2014; the rates of under-nutrition decreased from 17% in 2000 to 10% in 2014; and the rates of paleness in children fell from 63% in 2000 to 56% in 2014. The nutrition of women in reproductive years has noticeably improved; the rates of paleness decreased from 58% in 2000 to 45% in 2014; the rates of underweight women declined from 20.70% in 2000 to 14% in 2014. The clean water and sanitation at rural areas have also improved – the rates of those who had no toilets reduced from 79% in 2000 to 44% in 2014. All food security related indications further declined until 2018.

Recommendation No. 38

87.To fulfil the obligations of the States Parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the RGC has prepared its existing resources for protecting and enforcing economic, social and cultural rights, particularly, of individuals or vulnerable groups as mentioned in paragraphs 74 to 79 of this report.

88.In the implementation of international donors funded development programmes, especially for the judicial reform and improvement of the livelihood of people living in poverty, the RGC has collaborated to implement the programmes in a transparent and responsible manner.

89.In the past, the judicial reform programs were funded by international donors, including:

•The French government funded the development of the Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure;

•The government of Japan funded the development of the Civil Code and Code of Civil Procedure;

•The Australian government funded the preparation of principles in relation to criminal justice and the strengthening of the criminal justice system against human trafficking;

•The Chinese government funded human resources training;

•The Korean government funded the capacity building of legal officials.

90.All of these funds were administered and used by their donors. The Ministry of Justice, a RGC representative, has extended its cooperation, under the RGC contribution, with transparency and accountability.

Recommendation No. 40

91.The RGC has been expanding the coverage of social safety net through the development of measures, aiming at addressing situations of individuals and groups of poor people, particularly the homeless living in urban centres, victims of trafficking, homeless children on the street or those in conflict with the law and people of poor families.

92.The Royal Government established the National Committee on Homelessness under Sub-decree No. 129 dated 11 November 2005 and set up a Sub-Committee to Resolve Provincial/ Municipal Homelessness Situation under Decision No. 03 dated 26 August 2009 for coordinating between state institutions and relevant organisations, helping resolve homelessness situations in the municipality and provinces nationwide in line with social services and policies, education, trainings and community integration.

93.At the same time, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation introduced Circular No. 002 dated 23 January 2014 on Emergency Assistance Programmes for saving hungry people, poor people, natural and accidental disaster victims, migrants, and the homeless and mentally-ill people living in communities. To alleviate community poverty during the implementation of the Royal Government policies, the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation has provided emergency food aid and other materials to victims and vulnerable victims, with a total of 57,146 families.

94.The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation issued Directive No. 482 dated 29 February 2016 on the transformation of Por Sen Chey Vocational Training Centre into Phnom Penh Social Affairs Centre for providing victims and vulnerable victims with temporary, safe and non-discriminatory accommodation so that they have access to temporary shelter, food, healthcare, medical treatment, vocational and education training, life skills and community integration. To date, a total of 2,041 homeless people have been staying in this centre, of whom 1,391 have received educational and consultative services, vocational training, and integrated into their communities, while other 650 are still staying there.

L.Ratification of International Treaties

Recommendations No. 16.3, 44 and 45

95.The Kingdom of Cambodia has acceded to and ratified eight out of nine core international human rights treaties such as:

•International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (28 November 1983);

•International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (26 May 1992);

•International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (26 May 1992);

•Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (15 October 1992);

•Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (15 October 1992);

•Convention on the Rights of the Child (15 October 1992);

•Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (20 December 2012); and

•International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (27 June 2013).

96.The RGC has been studying legal, economic and other relevant factors in order to determine a proper time and situation that will guarantee that the Kingdom of Cambodia deserves to ratify or accede to the human rights treaties such as:

•ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention No. 169;

•Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;

•ILO Labour Inspection Convention No. 81 (1947) in Industry and Commerce;

•Social Security Minimum Standards Convention No. 102 (1952 (social fund).

M.Dissemination and Implementation of Concluding Observations

Recommendations No. 46 and 47

97.Following the formal acceptance of the Concluding Observations (Recommendations), the CHRC, the RGC-run agency, has collaborated with the OHCHR to Cambodia to compile recommendations and classify them according to their sections and fields of national ministries/institutions as stated in this report.

98.Through its workshop, the CHRC disseminated and distributed the Concluding Observations, which were compiled according to their sections and fields, to relevant ministries and institutions for the implementation based on their areas of responsibilities. The relevant ministries and institutions are tasked with providing the CHRC with information and data in relation to the implementation of the Concluding Observations so that a report can be timely compiled.

99.The information and data contained in the report submitted to the Committee, in response to the Concluding Observations, were obtained from the relevant ministries/institutions that implement the Concluding Observations. This report was widely consulted with relevant civil society organisations at the Consultative Forum on 1 March 2019, with the support of the OHCHR to Cambodia.

III.Challenges

100.Currently, even though the Kingdom of Cambodia has more than 500 laws in force, they are inadequate; especially the provisions that protect and guarantee economic, social and cultural rights have not yet been fully incorporated for facilitating effective law enforcement. In addition, the law enforcement officials’ knowledge about protection and promotion of economic, social and cultural rights is not extensive, which leads to the loss of public trust in decisions made by institutions, especially in the field of justice.

101.Issues of the land administration, distribution, occupation and use have not been all resolved yet. People, especially the indigenous people’s community lands, have not received land titles yet, which affects the implementation of economic land concessions. Land disputes still remain in relation to land use and occupation between people and people, between people and companies that are entitled to develop economic land concessions.

102.The “Education for All” policy is not yet fully implemented. A number of children, especially poor ones, have not received educational services and have not had the ideal opportunity to receive basic education, equity in education.

103.The health sector, in particular, the provision of quality, effective and equitable health services has not been well developed yet, especially at rural and remote areas, and vulnerable people have not fully benefited from public health services yet.

104.The gender equality policy on mainstreaming gender into all sectors and development programmes is not well implemented. Violence especially against women and children still exists in all forms, which causes the morality and value of women and a number of Cambodian families to deteriorate, losing their dignity and harmony in their families.

105.Increasing employment and careers and generating income for people remain a challenge to be addressed. People still go to work and earn money in foreign countries. Despite the fact that the salaries of governmental officials and the wages of workers/employees have gradually been increased, they have not been able to respond to decent standard of living requirements. Persons with disabilities and the elderly have not received regular and sufficient social health insurance.

IV.The RGC Strategies

106.The RGC will continue to strengthen and increase its current achievements through strengthening peace, political stability, security and social order, improving people’s living standards and welfare by implementing practical measures with the aim of promoting the rule of law and respecting human rights, dignity, and multilateral liberal democracy for promoting the security and political environment for long-term and sustainable development. The RGC will continue to:

•Implement in-depth legal and judicial reforms by promoting the development of a stable and more reliable legal framework, strengthening the capacity of law enforcement officials in their areas of expertise and human rights, promoting the independence and impartiality of the judicial institutions, which is a key factor in the process of promoting the rule of law, segregation of powers, respect for individual rights and guaranteed justice for the general public. In addition, the RGC will continue to fight against corruption through education, prevention, promotion of institutional accountability and capacity, public support and engagement, private sector participation, and law enforcement;

•More actively implement in-depth land reform, focusing on land use, administration, and distribution with the aim of achieving the national development goals including poverty reduction, food security, environment and natural resources protection, national defence and socioeconomic development in line with free market economy. Furthermore, the RGC will continue to settle land disputes effectively and fairly in accordance with applicable law and provisions, using land dispute resolution mechanisms inside and outside the judicial system, accelerating the granting of social land concessions to the landless for cultivation by means of the use of land inventories obtained from the companies that breach the contracts and the remaining state land in the registered areas, and the land in which mines were cleared;

•Promote “Education for All” policy, ensuring that all children and youth receive equitable educational services and are provided with equal opportunities for basic formal and non-formal education. The RGC will continue to promote the quality and efficiency of educational services at all levels, technical and vocational education and training between state and private educational institutions, and develop institutions and build the capacity of education officials, and strengthen working structures and vocational training for education officials to ensure good governance at all levels;

•Resolve health-related issues and further promote population welfare, introducing specific policies for health sector development, which is to ensure that quality, efficient, equitable and sustainable healthcare services are provided with priority given to rural and remote areas and the vulnerable, especially women, children and the elderly, and that access to active participation in the development of household livelihood and welfare, and social economy of the country is given to everyone, and that the poor benefit from public healthcare services;

•Implement the gender equality policy, mainstreaming gender into all sectors and development programmes, increasing efficiency of justice and social services provided to victims of gender-based violence, enhancing opportunities for women and female students to reach undergraduate and post-graduate studies, widening and increasing receptions of quality and efficient health services and nutrition, strengthening the implementation of the Second National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women with the aim of reducing physical inactivity, promoting a culture of non-violence in order to increase moral values of women and Cambodian families, and building communities of dignity, happy families and harmonious society;

•Implement the policy on social affairs and improve people’s living standards through socioeconomic development for civil servants and armed forces so that they have better livelihood and increments in wages of workers/employees, strengthening of social safety net in support of vulnerable groups, promotion of gender equality, roles and status of women in society, protection of children’s rights and the rights of persons with disabilities, focus of attention on elderly welfare, promotion of roles of veterans, and development of knowledge, know-hows, healthcare, and morality of the youth into an important driving force behind the nation.

107.The RGC hopes that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the United Nations will provide the Kingdom of Cambodia with valuable experience and technical assistance for further strengthening and promoting the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights, thus enabling the Cambodians to better benefit from these rights.

References

•The Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia (1993)

•Law on Education (2007)

•Labour Law (1997)

•Law on Disaster Management in Cambodia (2015)

•Law on the Protection and the Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2009)

•Law on Minimum Wage (2018)

•National Housing Policy (2014)

•National Technical and Vocational Education and Training Policy (2015–2025)

•National Employment Policy (2015–2025)

•National Strategy for Food Security and Nutrition (2014–2018)

•National Disability Strategic Plan (2014–2018)

•Health Strategic Plan (2008–2015)

•National Mental Health and Substance Abuse Plan (2011–2015)

•National Action Plan for the Zero Hunger Challenge by 2025

•National Strategy for Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2014–2025)

•National Strategic Development Plan (2014–2018)

•Vocational Education and Training Development Strategy (2015–2025)

•National Action Plan for Alleviating Child Labour and Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labour (2016–2025)

•National Disability Strategic Plan (2014–2018)