PHNOM PENH: The Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) says the human rights situation in the nation’s prison system is improving. The committee conducted its own assessment and said that conditions regarding diet, vocational training, medical care and access to exercise, religious freedom and books are all in accordance with the law and ensure prisoners’ human rights.

CHRC Chairman Keo Remy said this while leading a delegation to meet with the General Department of Prisons on November 29 at Correctional Center 2 (M2). While there, officials held a talk on "Cooperation and Monitoring of the Human Rights Situation in Prisons.”

The purpose of the visit was said to be an inspection of the current conditions for detainees, especially pregnant women and children who live in the facility with their incarcerated mothers. The CHRC and the Prisons Department said they would continue to work together to address issues and improve the human rights situation in prisons. To this end, the CHRC has placed complaint boxes in prisons and correctional centers to encourage reports of human rights violations. The department claimed that installing the boxes reflected its own strong will, transparency and integrity in regards to prison management.

The CHRC thanked the Director-General of Prison Department and the Capital-Provincial Correctional Centers for their close cooperation in protecting the rights and freedoms of detainees.

According to a UN Human Rights Council report issued in 2021, Cambodia's prison population had doubled since 2015, with 38,977 inmates in facilities that can hold up to 8,804, meaning that the prisons are operating at 343% capacity. The report also said that prisons lack of beds, drinking water and fresh air, which Amnesty International has called “a ticking time bomb.”