A/HRC/4/36 page 4 Introduction 1. The present report is submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council decision 1/102, in which the Council decided to extend exceptionally for one year the mandates and the mandate-holders of all the Commission’s special procedures, subject to the review that the Council is to undertake in conformity with General Assembly resolution 60/251. 2. The Special Representative undertook a second mission to Cambodia from 19 to 28 March 2006. The main purpose of the mission was to discuss his report and recommendations to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixty-second session, and to update himself on issues that had been the focus of his analysis in the report. 3. During his mission, he had discussions with Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, the Ministers of Women’s Affairs and Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction and other senior officials of the Government of Cambodia. He also met members of the Constitutional Council and judiciary, leaders of political parties, representatives of human rights, legal aid and trade union organizations, the United Nations Country Team, bilateral and multilateral development cooperation agencies and the diplomatic community. He visited Kompong Speu and Battambang provinces, where he met with victims of land disputes and with representatives of non-governmental organizations and provincial authorities. 4. In his public statement at the end of the mission, he welcomed the mid-January 2006 releases from prison and the return to Cambodia of several persons active in public life, charged variously with criminal defamation, disinformation and incitement in the latter part of 2005. At the same time, he expressed concern that the charges still stood, as a constant threat of re-arrest to those released and deterring others from the exercise of the freedom of expression. 5. He also welcomed the return of the leader of the main opposition party, the release from prison of a parliamentarian of the same party, and the restoration of their parliamentary immunity. 6. He concluded that most of the long-standing issues discussed in his report remain valid and pressing. He reiterated his recommendation that specific provisions regarding defamation, disinformation and incitement of the Provisions relating to the Judiciary and Criminal Law and Procedure applicable in Cambodia during the Transitional Period (commonly known as the “UNTAC1 law”) should be repealed without delay, and that no provision for criminal defamation should be retained in the new Penal Code. He noted that in parallel with discussions on a new openness, legislation was being drafted that could limit freedom of association and assembly. He expressed concern about continuing executive interference in the work of the judiciary and the inability of the Supreme Council of Magistracy to carry out its role of safeguarding the integrity and independence of judges. Impunity for serious human rights violations remained deeply rooted in Cambodia, and this would be difficult to overcome without an independent, competent and impartial judiciary. 1 United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia.