A/HRC/42/60/Add.2 As a democratic country upholding human rights and adhering to rule of law, all Cambodian citizens are equally treated before the law regardless of their political affiliation, profession, social status or their past. Each and every person is legally accountable not because of who they are but because of what offences they have committed. 7. Treaty Body Reporting and UPR Government attaches great importance to each treaty body reporting mechanism and UPR and will continue to uphold the principles of the UPR with its non-confrontational, nonpoliticized and non-selective approach. However, we resolutely oppose the practice of using human rights as a pretext to interfere in internal affairs of others and to undermine their sovereignty and territorial integrity. After the adoption of the report of the 3rd cycle review, Cambodian Human Rights Committee and OHCHR in Cambodia will work together to co-organize workshops and other program activities to disseminate all accepted recommendations to all relevant line ministries and institutions for implementation. Cambodian Human Rights Committee will also monitor the implementation of those recommendations and report back to the council either in the mid-term review if possible or in the next cycle review. For other treaty body reports that are under the responsibility of other line ministries, CHRC will also try to communicate and coordinate with them, so that they can complete and submit the report within the timeframe provided. 8. Lengthy pre-trial detention and arbitrary confinement of prisoners In principle, the charged person shall remain at liberty. However, the charged person may be provisionally detained under the conditions stated in Article 205 of the criminal code and the decision on the pre-trial detention is under the competent authority of the investigating judge in compliance with the criminal code (Articles 203 to 222). According to Article 208 of the criminal code, this provisional detention is six-month and can be extended twice, for a maximum period of six months each time. The length of detention as determined by the investigating judge shall be used to conduct the investigation in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure for a period of up to 18 months. The period of provisional detention in felony cases as stipulated in the criminal code is similar to the period of detention for felony cases in some countries in the world. In the case of the French provisional detention for serious felony, the maximum period can be up to 24 months or more. Lengthy trial detentions are a direct result of large amount of cases and a low number of judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys while law enforcement agencies are making more arrests, particularly drug related offenders. Lengthy pre-trial detention and arbitrary confinement of prisoners after their sentences have been completed at times took place because the final court judgments have not been communicated to the prison authorities. Prison directors are instructed to work closely with the court to notify beforehand those whose sentences are reaching their final days to issue releasing papers on time. 9. Prison Reform: Overcrowding prisoners, Torture and ill-treatment in prison. Due to increasing number of arrests and prosecutions as a result of the Royal Government’s antidrug campaign since the beginning of 2017, the number of inmates has increased accordingly from 20,997 in December 2016 to 28,391 in December 2017, a year-on-year increase by 35%. As of May 28, 2018, the total number of inmates was 29,829, out of which the number of convicted inmates with final judgment papers is only 7,684 (26%). Like many developing countries, Cambodia is in the stage of conducting its penal reform including prison reform. To address this issue, the Royal Government is also considering alternative to imprisonment and community-based treatments of offenders starting with juvenile delinquents (the “Tokyo Rules and Penal Code 2009”). The act of torture and ill-treatment of detainees are serious violations under the Cambodian criminal law and the perpetrator including law enforcement personnel are subject to criminal liability. The Royal Government has taken serious prevention actions so far through training 7