A/HRC/37/64 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to resolution 36/32 of the Human Rights Council. It outlines the role and achievements of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in assisting the Government and the people of Cambodia in the promotion and protection of human rights in the period from 1 July 2017 to 31 December 2017. It updates the report of the Secretary-General to the thirty-sixth session of the Council on the same subject (A/HRC/36/32). 2. Throughout the reporting period, OHCHR proceeded with a range of technical cooperation activities with the judiciary, the Supreme Council of Magistracy, the governmental Cambodian Human Rights Committee, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Rural Development and other governmental actors, civil society and other partners. It continued monitoring the human rights environment, including the right to participation and peaceful assembly, trials and places of detention. 3. OHCHR also continued working closely with the United Nations system in Cambodia to support the mainstreaming of human rights by leading the United Nations country team Human Rights Theme Group, supporting the integration of human rights into the common country assessment in preparation for the next United Nations Development Assistance Framework 2019–2023, and helping the United Nations in assessing progress in, and supporting the advancement of, human rights in Cambodia. II. Protecting democratic and civic space 4. The reporting period witnessed a continued escalation in political tensions and curtailment of civic space. In July, parliament enacted further amendments to the Law on Political Parties, allowing, inter alia, the suspension of the operations of political parties on various grounds. 5. In September, the leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, Kem Sokha, was arrested on treason-related charges in connection with comments made in 2013 in Australia on his political strategy to challenge the Government. Parliament determined that the alleged crime was committed in flagrante delicto, which allowed the case to proceed without the need to lift his parliamentary immunity. On 4 September, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed serious concern at the arrest of Mr. Sokha, noting that it appeared to have been carried out with no respect for due process guarantees, including for Mr. Sokha’s parliamentary immunity. On 16 November, following proceedings initiated by the Minister of Interior, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party and banned 118 senior members of the party, including all parliamentarians, from political life for five years. 6. In October, parliament enacted amendments to legislation introducing a methodology for redistributing the seats of a dissolved party among other parties at the national and communal levels. Nationally, the dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party permitted the transfer of its seats to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and to opposition parties that had not won any seats in the 2013 national elections. At the local level, all communes previously headed by the Cambodia National Rescue Party passed under the control of the Cambodian People’s Party. Following these developments, a large number of members of the dissolved party, including more than half of its parliamentarians, left the country while others have joined the ruling party. Some former members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party informed OHCHR that they were being intimidated by the police, with some threatened with arrest. 7. The Government has accused various civil society actors, including in the media, of plotting a “colour revolution”, and consequently curtailed their activities. For instance, in August, it revoked the licences of independent radio stations, most of which were airing programmes of Voice of Democracy, Radio Free Asia and Voice of America. The levying of taxes totalling $6.3 million on the Cambodia Daily — an English-language daily 2