The Special Representative for the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Thomas Hammerburg, is expected to make his first report to the UN General Assembly this month. It is expected that he will make recommendations relating to the independence of the judiciary, the democratisation process and other important issues relating to human rights in Cambodia. The wide spread practice of torture, child abuse, and the lack of police discipline remain major issues Cambodia. The progress of the legal and political systems has been minimal. However, in the civil society there has been considerable progress. For the human rights activities of the UN to play a useful role in Cambodia still remains a formidable task.

Meanwhile the UN Human Rights Centre sent in a group of three experts to evaluate the work of its field office in Cambodia. The field office was established in September, 1993 at the end of the UNTAC mission to carry on the work that the Human Rights component of UNTAC started. This component enjoyed a wide reputation for its contribution to human rights work and its assistance to the local NGOs at the initial stage of their work.

The evaluating team has interviewed several NGOs on their expectations from a UN Human Rights Field Office. Several persons have given suggestions for the improvement of the work of the office. Both UN staff and local NGOs seem to feel that the field office should have independence to take action in terms of the requirements of Cambodia. The control from a place like Geneva where the headquarters is situated means considerable delay and conflicts. The situation of Cambodia is so unique due to the collapse of the entire society during the Pol Pot years. Any effective human rights work demands a serious understanding of these factors. There is a considerable dissatisfaction about the way the field office has been prevented from being relevant to the needs of Cambodia by preventing local initiatives. Though there has been some personnel transfers the overall control by the Geneva Centre still remains tight, according several sources.

Meanwhile there are also complaints about the use of the trust fund. Some NGOs question the need to give contracts to individuals involving large sums of money, when the same could be done by local experts or NGOs at much lesser cost. Human Rights experts from neighbouring countries have proved more useful than some “experts” from affluent countries who have hardly any understanding of the third world issues. Some NGOs also complain that the trust fund has been administered in a very arbitrary manner. Several NGOs expressed the hope that these problems could be resolved by the appointment of a competent director with an understanding of the local and regional reality. The post remains vacant since the last director was called back to Geneva a few months back. An internal source said that if the field office does not change drastically, the whole project would have to be called a failure.

One of the extraordinary successes of the Field office has been the judges assistance programme. A group of experienced judges and lawyers particularly from the Asian region visits Cambodian courts every day, observes the proceedings and makes useful suggestions for reforms. The group is headed by Justice K. M. Suban, a former Supreme Court Judge from Bangladesh. This programme originally designed in 1993 by the legal assistance units has subsequently been developed on the basis of actual experience of the field office gained at the courts. The original expectation was that the experience gained by the foreign assistants would help in drafting laws and procedures for improvement of the judicial system.


Six Videos on human rights produced by a group of Hong Kong journalists on Human Rights issues in Cambodia was dubbed into the Khmer Language and is being shown to Cambodian audiences. They also are being used for educational purposes. An application has been made to the state television to broadcast these videos for the purpose of public education.