A/HRC/15/46 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 16 September 2010 Original: English Human Rights Council Fifteenth session Agenda item 10 Technical assistance and capacity-building Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia∗ Surya P. Subedi Summary Cambodia has made some noteworthy progress in protecting and promoting human rights, including enacting some major new laws to this effect. The Government of Cambodia is more engaged with the United Nations human rights institutions and accepted all of the recommendations made during the universal periodic review of the country in December 2009, which include strengthening the independence and capacity of the judiciary. In the opinion of the Special Rapporteur, Cambodia remains a complex country in terms of the protection and promotion of human rights, as democratization has not yet fully taken root. Human rights violations are still taking place in a number of areas. The major areas of concern are those relating to access to land and housing rights, freedom of expression, and the numerous challenges faced by the judiciary. These issues continue to dominate the legal and political landscape. The Special Rapporteur is also concerned about the narrowing of political space. The Government has to become more tolerant towards the internal stakeholders and the international community in moving the country forward. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the endeavours and willingness of the Government to further improve the human rights situation and strengthen the independence and capacity of the judiciary. He was encouraged by the openness of his government interlocutors to engage in substantive discussions, provided that issues were raised in an objective and non-partisan manner, with the intention of looking for solutions. It is in this spirit that the Special Rapporteur has made a series of recommendations in this report and encourages the Government to take the recommendations into consideration and put in place a programme of action with a clear timetable to implement them. ∗ GE.10-16145 Late submission.