HE Meng Moniruoth Participated in the ASEAN Dialogue in “Realising Southeast Asia as a Torture-Free Region, 2024”
Indonesia: HE Senior Minister Keo Remy, President of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC), on behalf of the Cambodian Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), assigned HE Meng Moniruoth, a member of the CHRC, to participate in the ASEAN Dialogue in “Realising Southeast Asia as a Torture-Free Region, 2024” on 20-21 August 2024, in Banten, Indonesia, at the invitation of the Indonesian Representative to AICHR. The dialogue was attended by Representatives of ASEAN Member States to AICHR, ASEAN Sectoral Bodies, ASEAN Member States, the Ministries of Justice from ASEAN Member States, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of ASEAN Member States, national human rights institutions, civil society organisations and the United Nations Bodies.
In the dialogue, HE Meng Moniruoth emphasised that Cambodia actively participates in human rights mechanisms internationally and in the ASEAN region; it has ratified eight out of nine human rights treaties in which it became a State Party acceding to the Convention against Torture, Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT Convention) in 1992; and Article 38 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia prohibits, especially, torture and other ill-treatment, declaring that confessions obtained by physical or mental force shall not be admissible as evidence of guilt.
The ASEAN dialogue is a joint activity between AICHR and the Southeast Asian National Human Rights Institution Forum (SEANF) in partnership with the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC) and the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and with support of the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Swiss Embassy in Jakarta. The dialogue aims to provide a forum for sharing measures and building capacity of stakeholders in the application of the Mendez Principles, the Istanbul Protocol and the Bangkok Rules by the police and other stakeholders.