Publication: Translation of the three fundamental laws called for judicial reform – December 2014
On the Ministry of Justice of Cambodia’s demand, the Henri Capitant Association in Cambodia has been nominated to officially translate three fundamental laws reforming respectively the judicial system, the magistrates’ status, and the organization and functioning of the Higher Council of the Judiciary.
Regarding the justice system the first law aims, for instance, to guarantee the independence of the judicial power (article 1), to defend the individual rights and freedom (article 2), and to determine jurisdictions’ competencies (article 2). In this respect, and during a conference dedicated to the dissemination of this three laws, the French Embassy in Cambodia highlighted the importance that “these texts exist because as our “Garde des Sceaux” [the minister of justice] Christiane Taubira reminded: “Between the strong and the weak, the freedom oppresses, the justice protects””.
Similarly, the independence of the judicial power cannot exists without defining the status of judges and prosecutors, their roles, their rights and duties, topics explicitly described and determined in the second law relative to the status of judges and prosecutors.
Finally, the third law relative to the organization and the functioning of the Higher Council of the Judiciary is clearly essential, as it determines the legal framework of the Council.
Reminding the importance of these three laws, the French Embassy defended the key role of the law “in a young Cambodian society benefiting from the vitality of its economic growth and the strength of its youth.”
Hence, the translation of these three laws was essential both for French jurists and for French-speaking Cambodians. This mission demonstrates the confidence of the Cambodian institutions to the young Henri Capitant Association in Cambodia and suggests much fruitful collaboration. It also shows the important role of the French-Cambodian collaboration in terms of legal expertise, a collaboration considered as a duty by the French Embassy “because France, since the Paris Agreement, has supported the work of the Royal Government to strengthen the rule of law in Cambodia, the respect of human rights, and good governance, corner-stone of a harmonious development that benefits to the greatest number”.
Click here to access to the three fundamental laws translated in French.
Click here to access to the original version in khmer.
Click here to access to the full speech of the French Embassy in Cambodia.