A/HRC/7/56
page 15
and human rights NGOs. The task of compiling the first draft of the law to establish the
institution has been assigned to a working group of NGOs operating in the field of human rights
and legal aid. This body submitted its first draft to the Government in October 2007 and now
proposes a lengthy period of public consultations on the draft law.
50. The Office is seeking to ensure that any proposed legislation to establish a national human
rights institution should be based on a broad consensus within Cambodian society, with the full
participation of government institutions and civil society. In order to encourage greater
participation and provide expert advice in the drafting process, the Office organized a technical
assistance mission in December 2007 to meet with Government and civil society actors, review
the first draft of the law, and advise them on the next steps. The Office also facilitated the
participation of an official Cambodian Government delegation in a three-day workshop on the
establishment of national human rights institutions organized by the National Institutions Unit of
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in collaboration with the Human Rights
Commission of the Philippines.
H. Cooperation and coordination with the United Nations Country Team
51. The United Nations Development Assistance Framework 2006 to 2010, to which the
Office contributed substantively, is a strong rights-based document which identifies four focus
areas: good governance and the promotion and protection of human rights; agriculture and rural
poverty; capacity-building and human resource development for the social sector; and support
for the National Strategic Development Plan (2006-2010). While the Office programme
contributes to all of these objectives, its emphasis is on protection, assistance and advisory work
in the first two areas.
52. The Office participated in regular meetings of the United Nations Country Team, including
meetings of heads of agency and of the Millennium Development Goals Advisory Committee,
which also includes human rights responsibilities. The Office worked with individual agencies
on matters of joint concern, for example with ILO on issues relating to indigenous peoples and
freedom of assembly and association, and with the United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM) on treaty reporting and follow-up and with UNICEF on juvenile justice and
the rights of persons with disabilities. The Office collaborated with the United Nations Human
Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) in drafting a United Nations Country Team viewpoint
on evictions and involuntary resettlement.
53. Outside the United Nations system, the Office continued to work with multilateral and
bilateral development cooperation agencies to help integrate and implement human rights
standards in development policies and programmes. The Office participated in the Cambodia
Development Cooperation Forum (formerly the Consultative Group) and remained active in the
technical working groups on legal and judicial reform and land, 2 of 19 such sectoral groups set
up by the Government and donors to prepare joint strategies and action plans and monitor
progress against agreed indicators.
I. Education, training and public information programmes
54. Continuing its programme to publish new translations in Khmer of the core human rights
treaties, the Office finalized a Khmer translation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents