A/HRC/4/95
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48.
The office also continued to follow selected cases where community activists and
villagers involved in land disputes with powerful interests or companies have faced intimidation
or become the subject of criminal proceedings. There are a growing number of cases where the
penal provisions of the Land Law, particularly those relating to infringements against private
property, have been used to arrest community representatives involved in disputes over
unregistered land. For example, in Bavel district, Battambang province, three community
representatives were arrested and are currently being held in pretrial detention in relation to a
dispute over unregistered land. Owing to the increasing number of such cases, community
activists often fear arrest when they are summoned to the court for questioning, and office staff
have accompanied community activists to appointments at provincial courts. The office notes
that the penal provisions in the Land Law are not generally invoked to protect citizens whose
land is infringed upon by the activities of companies and powerful interests.
49.
The office liaised with donors working in the field of land and natural resource
management, and participated in the Technical Working Group on Land. The office also
continued to work with NGOs and civil society networks focusing on land and natural resource
management.
50.
Four small grants projects selected in 2004 through the Assisting Communities Together,
a global project of OHCHR in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme,
were concluded. These supported local NGOs working on environmental rights advocacy;
training on law, policy and advocacy for indigenous peoples; forest law and access to forest
resources; and training for fishing communities on the importance of natural resources, their
sustainable use, and advocacy for human rights.
F. Adherence to international human rights treaties
51.
Cambodia is party to the main international human rights treaties, with the exception of
the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families. It has ratified the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child but not the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, although the country’s Constitution abolishes the death penalty.
52.
In November, the National Assembly approved ratification of the Optional Protocol to
the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, which Cambodia signed in September 2005. The office undertook an immediate
review of the Khmer text attached to the law and advised the appropriate bodies on correcting
translation errors. It held initial discussions with government counterparts about possible
technical assistance in completing the ratification process and in supporting the implementation
of the Optional Protocol.
53.
Cambodia has not yet accepted individual communications procedures provided for
under the treaties to which it is party. It signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Elimination of Discrimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in
November 2001, and the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights in September 2004, but has yet to ratify these instruments. Nor has it made a
declaration under article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination, or article 22 of the Convention Against Torture.
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