A/HRC/36/61 The political situation was dominated by those local elections and by preparations for the 2018 general election, which appear to have had a negative impact on the perception and actual realization of human rights in the country. However, free and fair elections held in accordance with the Constitution and the exercise of rights to political and public participation play a crucial role in promoting democratic governance and the rule of law and in advancing all human rights. 6. Relations between the Cambodian People’s Party, the ruling party, and the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the largest opposition party, remain tense. Since the previous report of the Special Rapporteur (see A/HRC/33/62, para. 7), several senior members of CNRP, including members of parliament whose parliamentary immunity was revoked, have had additional charges brought against them or been the subject of convictions and sentences. The former CNRP President, Sam Rainsy, was in voluntary exile from October 2015, then was formally barred from returning to Cambodia in October 2016, following additional convictions and new court cases. (Although he has dual French and Khmer nationality, it is problematic in human rights terms for Cambodia to take steps to prevent a Cambodian national from returning home.) The travel ban was apparently lifted on 14 June 2017, after submission of the present report. 7. The current President of CNRP, Kem Sokha, was convicted in September 2016 for failing to appear for questioning, although he later received a royal pardon and left his selfimposed house arrest. Senator Hong Sok Hour (formerly of the Sam Rainsy Party) was sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment on 9 November 2016 for forgery and incitement in connection with a Facebook post. Senator Thak Lany (formerly of the Sam Rainsy Party, currently in exile) was convicted in absentia to 18 months’ imprisonment on charges of defamation and incitement in connection with a video clip on Facebook purportedly of a speech with comments on the death of Kem Ley. In its decision of 5 April 2017 on 15 Cambodian parliamentarians who had been subjected to arrest, harassment and suspension from Parliament, the Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union expressed deep concern at the escalation of the situation and noted a lack of cooperation from the Government on those cases.1 8. CNRP has periodically withdrawn its participation in the National Assembly, which continues to have implications for the legislative process. Draft laws, especially those that are fast-tracked, do not appear to go through rigorous reviews for compliance with international human rights law. A prominent example are the amendments to the Law on Political Parties, which were fast-tracked early in 2017. The amendments prohibit anyone convicted of a crime from holding political office and permit the dissolution of any political party deemed to be secessionist or subversive. The former provision is similar to one that was included in the Law on Trade Unions that prohibited convicted persons from leading trade unions. Given that the courts tend to interpret provisions of the current criminal law broadly, many individuals could find themselves barred from holding office. 9. The draft cybercrime laws mentioned in the Special Rapporteur’s previous report (see A/HRC/33/62, para. 34) have still not been published, but draft labour laws are in circulation. The Special Rapporteur has received notes from stakeholders expressing concern about the draft law on a minimum wage and the draft law on labour dispute procedures. Both have potentially positive benefits for workers in Cambodia, yet appear to contain potentially worrying provisions, including provisions limiting negotiation and transparency and provisions increasing the work of the Arbitration Council without making additional funding and support available. The draft law on a minimum wage will extend the wage negotiation system currently deployed in the garment sector to other sectors, which could result in an increase in wages for many Cambodians. Some articles of the draft law, however, would restrict fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association, such as the proposed ban on any form of objection to the agreed minimum wage and the apparent prohibition on independent research related to the minimum wage. 10. The Government of Cambodia has not yet published its strategy for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. However, there continue to be discussions in several 1 4 See www.ipu.org/hr-e/200/cmbd27.pdf.