PHNOM PENH: The Chairman of the Cambodian Human Rights Committee, Keo Remy, has met with the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Country Director for Cambodia, Pauline Tamesis, on Thursday. Keo Remy has informed the UN Resident Coordinator that the government is working towards human rights. On the UN’s side, Pauline Tamesis has urged the Royal Government to draft a law on same-sex marriage.

The UN Resident Coordinator, Pauline Tamesis has urged the Chairman of Cambodian Human Rights Committee Keo Remy to draft a law on same-sex marriage. They discussion was made during their meeting on Thursday. Keo Remy says they will assess and study about same-sex marriage law in the country.

In addition, the CHRC Chairman has also detailed the progress Cambodia has made on human rights. Remy highlights the additional human rights law Cambodia is preparing. These are the laws on anti-discrimination and gender equality. He has added that the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Women's Affairs are currently studying the process of preparing laws on anti-discrimination and gender equality. Remy says they follow the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review released in 2019.

 UN Coordinator Pauline Tamesis has acknowledged the progress made, especially in regard to the goal of eliminating violence against women and achieving gender equality. She has encouraged the government to increase education and outreach to continue addressing these issues.

Both the UN Representative and the Chairman of the Human Rights Committee agreed to continue cooperation between the two groups, including plans to jointly organize a National Workshop on the Universal Periodic Review Mid-Term Report and the Workshop on the Right to Information Law at the beginning of 2022.

The 2019 Universal Periodic Review provided Cambodia with 198 human rights related recommendations from UN member states. The Cambodian government accepted 173 of these recommendations, and noted an additional 25.