PHNOM PENH: The Chairman of the Cambodia Human Rights Committee, Keo Remy, told the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Cambodia, Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, that the committee does a lot of work for juvenile cases but does not publicly brag about it.

On the afternoon of Thursday, 24 March, the Chairman of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee, Keo Remy, met with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Cambodia, Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn via videocall. During the meeting, one of the questions the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights had was on women and children’s rights, particularly in regard to a recent arrest case of a 16-year-old boy.

In response to the query, the CHRC Chairman said, “The Cambodian Human Rights Committee does a lot of work, but we don’t brag about it. I told him that not only was the 16-year-old boy in jail but there were many other juveniles as young as 14-13-year-old. Arrested for petty theft… Her Excellency [Lim Chanlida] is a lawyer and has worked with the authorities to give them legal representatives and rehabilitations when they are out. We also worked with children with imprisoned mothers… We work with an orphanage in S’ang District managed by Chhouk Seiha to give these children education with the consent of the mothers, the prison's Warden, and Human Rights group. Yesterday, I just signed a paper to reunite a recently released mother with her child.”

The CHRC acknowledges that there are many more children like this, thus the CHRC has made a commitment to donate rice and supplies to orphanages regularly, mostly using their own funds in combination with some humanitarian donations.

The CHRC has stated it will continue to hold meetings with various groups, including an upcoming meeting with the embassy of Australia.