UPR Recommendations Pertaining to Access to Justice

• Released Date: 10-Jan-2020
• Publication: Leaflet

Universal Periodic Review ["UPR"] is a unique mechanism of the United Nations ["UN"] that reviews the fulfillment of each Member States' human rights obligations on a periodic basis. On 5 July 2019 the outcome report of Cambodia's 3rd UPR cycle was adopted at a plenary session of the Human Rights Council. The outcome report details 198 recommendations made in total, with 25 pertaining to access to justice.

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The Right to Presumption of Innocence

• Released Date: 09-Jan-2020
• Publication: Newsletter

This newsletter is part of a series of newsletters that analyze our findings. The present newsletter focuses on the right to Presumption of Innocence.

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UPR Factsheet: Access to Legal Information

• Released Date: 24-Dec-2019
• Publication: Leaflet

Access to legal information is a fundamental precondition for rule of law, and an important aspect of access to justice. States are required to update and disseminate information to the public on laws, regulations, policies, decisions, and duties of public institutions relating to rights, freedoms, obligations, and public interests. Despite recognizing this right in its legislation and National Strategic Plan, Cambodia continues to leave this right unfulfilled; access to laws and jurisprudence remains limited, irregular, delayed and decentralized.

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UPR Factsheet: Independence of Judiciary

• Released Date: 24-Dec-2019
• Publication: Leaflet

Despite continued recommendations in previous UPR cycles, an independent, impartial judiciary is still not a reality in Cambodia. The national framework does not, in practice, guarantee the independence of the judiciary; the executive hold excessive control over the judiciary with multiple high-level members of the judiciary also belonging to the ruling party. As a result, the judicial system is used as a tool to target political opponents, human rights defenders, trade unionists and journalists, whilst allegations of wrongdoing against public officials rarely lead to meaningful investigation or prosecution.

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UPR Factsheet: Fair Trial Rights

• Released Date: 24-Dec-2019
• Publication: Leaflet

Fair trial rights are protected in Cambodia through both general and specific provisions set out in a number of instruments. Nevertheless, there are still many issues that need to be addressed, such as poor prison conditions, overcrowded prisons with a large number of prisoners in pre-trial detention, the presumption of innocence (which is routinely ignored), the almost non-existent right to an effective defense, juveniles who lack protection and a lack of reasoned judgements. Cambodia's 3rd UPR cycle recognized and raised these issues

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UPR Factsheet: Legal Aid

• Released Date: 24-Dec-2019
• Publication: Leaflet

The right to legal aid for criminally accused persons is guaranteed by Cambodia's legal framework, however this framework is insufficient and not uniformly upheld for all offences and defendants. In reality, the state-sponsored legal aid system in Cambodia is underfunded and understaffed, resulting in the poorer members of society receiving inadequate, if any, legal representation. Consequently, access to justice in Cambodia is itself dependent on wealth and social status, undermining the vital principle of rule of law

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Fair Trial Rights in Cambodia Monitoring at the Court of Appeal Annual Report (1 November 2017-31 October 2018)

• Released Date: 21-Oct-2019
• Publication: Report

Today, CCHR’s Fair Trial Rights Project releases its annual report on “Fair Trial Rights in Cambodia, Monitoring at the Court of Appeal” covering the period of 1 November 2017 to 31 October 2018. It analyzes the data gathered through the daily monitoring of 213 randomly selected criminal cases at the Court of Appeal in Phnom Penh, using a specifically designed trial-monitoring checklist in order to assess adherence to fair trial rights as set out in international and Cambodian law.

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The Right to Legal Representation and to be Present at Trial

• Released Date: 25-Apr-2019
• Publication: Newsletter

This newsletter is part of a series of quarterly newsletters that will analyze the findings of CCHR’s monitoring and discuss its broader issues. The present newsletter focuses on the issues facing Cambodian citizens who are accused of crimes, in particular their access to legal representation and their right to be present at their own trial.

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Fair Trial Rights of Juveniles

• Released Date: 24-Jan-2019
• Publication: Newsletter

The newsletter on fair trial rights is part of a series of quarterly newsletters that analyze the findings of CCHR’s monitoring and discuss broader issues. It focuses on the fair trial rights of juveniles, in particular the right to privacy, the protection of presumption of innocence and pre-trial detention.

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Fair Trial Right to the Right to Reasoned Judgment

• Released Date: 15-Nov-2018
• Publication: Newsletter

One of the main fair trial rights issue in Cambodia is that people who are handed a criminal conviction are often not provided with the full reasons for the judgment, that is, the legal basis and the evidence used by the judges to reach their conclusion. Find out more by reading our latest fair trial rights newsletter which discusses the right to a reasoned judgment in Cambodia.

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Issue 4: Fair Trial Rights for Women in Cambodia

• Released Date: 09-Aug-2018
• Publication: Newsletter

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) has been conducting trial monitoring since 2009, to observe criminal trials in Cambodian courts and to assess their adherence to international and Cambodian fair trial standards. Since March 2013, CCHR’s Fair Trial Rights Project has been monitoring hearings in the Phnom Penh Court of Appeal. This newsletter is a 2018 series of quarterly newsletters that will analyse the findings of CCHR’s monitoring and discuss broader issues. The present newsletter focuses on issues faced by women in the Cambodian judicial system, and in particular on equality before the law, pre-trial detention and the prosecution of gender-based violence.

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Mentoring Program

• Released Date: 19-Jul-2018
• Publication: Leaflet

Three-day training on fair trial rights and trial monitoring​ for selected law students

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