A/HRC/24/36 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 5 August 2013 Original: English Human Rights Council Twenty-fourth session Agenda item 10 Technical assistance and capacity-building Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Surya P. Subedi Summary Having produced four substantive and substantial reports with a thorough analysis of the situation of human rights and the challenges that Cambodia faces in terms of the promotion and protection of human rights since his appointment by the Human Rights Council in March 2009, the Special Rapporteur focused his last two missions to the country – one conducted in December 2012 and the other in May 2013 – on the follow-up to the recommendations made in his reports and on monitoring the situation of human rights in Cambodia. His previous annual reports to the Council focused on judicial, parliamentary and electoral reform and on the human rights impact of economic and other land concessions. His reports included a series of recommendations designed to assist the Government with their reform agenda and the process of democratization in the country. Rather than taking up a new human rights theme, he considered it timely to take stock of the progress made on the follow-up to the recommendations made in his previous reports. The reception that the Special Rapporteur received from the Government during his mission to the country in December 2012 was a frosty one during which no senior member of the Government was available to meet with him. In the wake of the publication of two major reports by the Special Rapporteur – one on electoral reform and the other one on economic and other land concessions – he was subjected to some raw remarks descending to the personal level. This was highly regrettable, as the focus of the dialogue between the Special Rapporteur and the Government should remain strictly on the substance of the work he is mandated to carry out by the United Nations, and not on him as a person. However, the Government cooperated with him during his mission to the country in May 2013, when he met with a broad range of stakeholders. They included senior members of the Government who were forthcoming with information, prepared to acknowledge deficiencies where they existed, and willing to work with the Special Rapporteur in a constructive manner to address the remaining challenges concerning greater protection of human rights, stronger democracy and genuine rule of law in Cambodia. He was satisfied with the level of engagement and dialogue with various government interlocutors; the dialogue was candid, cordial and constructive. While the private meetings with senior members of the Government were GE.13-16118