A/HRC/36/61 VIII. Reporting to the treaty bodies and participation in the universal periodic review 65. A number of periodic reports by Cambodia to the treaty bodies are overdue: the report to be prepared on the basis of the list of issues prior to reporting on the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the initial report on the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; the combined fourteenth and fifteenth periodic reports on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the initial report on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was due on 20 January 2015; and the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The sixth periodic report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is due on 1 October 2017 and, according to the information received from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, considerable progress had been made on it. The combined fourth to sixth periodic reports on the Convention on the Rights of the Child is due on 13 May 2018. The Government has decided not to submit the optional midterm report for the universal periodic review, reversing an earlier decision (see A/HRC/33/62, para. 56). The new President of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee explained to the Special Rapporteur that the reversal was due to a change in the management of the Committee. The Special Rapporteur suggests that Cambodia establish a schedule to ensure that reporting requirements are met in a timely manner. As previously stated (see A/HRC/33/62, para. 57), Cambodia should also consider publishing the two most recent reports of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. IX. Communications to the Government 66. Between April 2016 and May 2017, there has been only one response (to KHM 4/2016) to the communications sent by the special procedure mandate holders to the Government. During that time, five urgent appeals, two allegation letters and one other letter were communicated to the Government. In addition, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, at its seventy-seventh session, adopted an opinion finding the ongoing pretrial detention of Ny Sokha, Nay Vanda, Yi Soksan, Lim Mony and Ny Chakrya arbitrary and requesting the Government to ensure the immediate release of the detainees and to extend to them a right to compensation. The Working Group found the deprivation of liberty of the stated individuals to be in contravention of articles 7, 9-11 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of articles 9-10, 14, 22 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (see A/HRC/WGAD/2016/45). The detention of the above-mentioned individuals has also been the subject of three urgent appeals (KHM 1/2017, 6/2016 and 3/2016). Other communications dealt with issues related to freedom of assembly and association (KHM 7/2016), freedom of opinion and expression (KHM 1/2017, 6/2016, 5/2016, 4/2016, 3/2016, 2/2016 and 1/2016), the environment (KHM 2/2016), arbitrary detention (KHM 1/2017, 6/2016 and 3/2016) and the protection of human rights defenders (KHM 1/2017, 6/2016, 4/2016, 3/2016, 2/2016 and 1/2016). The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to engage more with the special procedures by replying to their communications, in order to facilitate a better understanding of the various situations and the Government’s views thereon. This should enable progress to be made on resolving the issues raised in the communications and, where appropriate, ensuring redress. X. Conclusions 67. The progress made by Cambodia over the past 25 years is immense. The country has been transformed economically, although extreme poverty remains and the benefits of development have not been enjoyed equally by all Cambodians. The reporting period has brought fresh evidence of the tensions in the country and a reminder of the work that still needs to be done by the Government to strengthen the 16