GENEVA (12 September 2024) – Independent UN experts today called for the suspension of Cambodia’s newly issued Charter for Professional Journalism and urged a thorough review to reform it. The Ministry of Information’s formal promulgation of the Charter on 6 August 2024 came after the Ministry made the Charter public on 24 July. “No comprehensive consultations were held as part of the process of developing the Charter and a few stakeholders were given only nine days to comment. Just four days after the deadline, the Charter was promulgated without the possibility of further discussion on the input by relevant parties,” the experts said. Concerns also remain about the scope of its application, which appears intended to be applied broadly to individual journalists, media outlets, publishers, journalists’ associations, and those operating on social media platforms. “The Charter fails to incorporate a public interest override and to establish properly the main remedies for when the media makes factual errors, namely the rights of correction and reply,” the experts said. They said the Charter further incorporates provisions that stresses the dissemination of only accurate information, or even to combat “fake news, malinformation, disinformation and misinformation”, rather than to take reasonable steps to verify information before publication. It also fails to establish properly the main remedies for when the media makes factual errors, namely the rights of correction and reply. While expressing concerns about the hurried adoption of the Charter, the experts stressed that any process involving professional media code should be inclusive, participatory, and developed in a transparent manner with enough time for review and feedback. They noted that any professional media code should be drafted by and for the media, rather than through a Ministry-led process and any proposed oversight or monitoring mechanism should be independent from the authorities. No such guarantee is provided under the Charter. “Being a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Cambodia should ensure that any constraints on freedom of expression, freedom of the press, access to information and need to comply with its provisions, especially articles 19 and 20,” the experts said. “Under international human rights law, the right to freedom of expression encompasses a right to access information. Journalists both exercise their own rights to freedom of expression and play a crucial role in ensuring that members of the public can access information.” The experts call on Cambodia to protect and promote independent, free and pluralist media as a vital pillar of democracy and an enabler of sustainable development and to reform laws, policies and practices, including the Charter, that impede freedom of expression. The experts: Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia; Ms. Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Ms. Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. UN human rights country page: Cambodia For inquiries and media requests, please contact Naved Ahmad (Naved.ahmad@un.org) For media enquiries regarding other UN independent experts, please contact Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org) or John Newland (john.newland@un.org)