A/HRC/42/31 7. On 10 May 2018, the Court of Appeal upheld the convictions for “insurrection” and the related sentences ordered by the court of first instance in 2015 against 11 members of the former Cambodia National Rescue Party. In a press briefing note, the Spokesperson for the High Commissioner expressed disappointment at the decision given concerns of fair trial rights and the perception of government interference at the time of the trial. 2 8. On 28 May 2018, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications adopted an inter-ministerial proclamation (Prakas) entitled “Controls on publication of website and social media processing via Internet” which allowed the blocking of websites and social media pages containing content considered to cause incitement, turmoil or discrimination or undermining national security, among other grounds. The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia expressed concern that some of the phrases of the Prakas were vague and overly broad in scope, and raised the issue of whether some of the grounds, such as causing turmoil, fell outside the scope of permitted limitations on freedom of expression (A/HRC/39/73/Add.1, paras. 72–73). 9. The Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association expressed their concern about media freedoms ahead of the elections in a statement issued on 15 June 2018. The concern related to a media code of conduct issued by the National Election Committee in May prohibiting the publication of views that may lead to confusion or a loss of confidence in the elections. The Special Rapporteurs stated that “these prohibitions use broad and imprecise terminology that could lead to sweeping restrictions on the media that would be incompatible with international standards”.3 10. The elections took place on 29 July 2018 without the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which had been dissolved by the Supreme Court in November 2017. The party had received about 44 per cent of the popular vote in the 2013 national elections and again in the 2017 commune elections. On 27 July, the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General stated that “the Secretary-General recalls that an inclusive and pluralistic political process remains essential for safeguarding the progress made by Cambodia in consolidating peace. The Secretary-General calls on all actors to reduce tensions and political polarization. He calls upon the Government to uphold international human rights standards and in particular to ensure guarantees for civil society actors and political parties to exercise their democratic rights.”4 11. On 15 August, the National Election Committee announced the election results: the official turnout was just over 83.02 per cent with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party gaining 76.85 per cent of the vote, winning all 125 seats in the National Assembly. This followed the February 2018 election in which the ruling party won all 58 elected seats in the Senate (the Senate is elected by the commune councillors and members of the National Assembly). Both chambers had a Cambodian People’s Party majority following the redistribution of seats to unelected officials at the national and subnational levels in the wake of the dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party in late 2017. The 25 May 2019 indirect elections for municipal, provincial and district councils resulted in the Cambodian People’s Party gaining 96 per cent of the votes. 12. On 17 August, OHCHR issued a press briefing note stating, inter alia: “We are concerned about the human rights environment around the elections that were recently held in Cambodia without the dissolved main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party. This left a significant proportion of the population without chosen representation, causing concern for their rights to political 2 3 4 See https://cambodia.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/180511%20Briefing%20note%20on%20Cambodia _ENG.pdf. See www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23205&LangID=E. See www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2018-07-27/statement-attributable-spokesman-secretarygeneral-cambodia. 3