AKP Phnom Penh, March 03, 2026 --

Cambodia has urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to uphold international law over the use of force and to act with resolve in defending peace, sovereignty, and human dignity, amid what it described as ongoing harms to civilians stemming from border tensions with Thailand.

Addressing the 61st session of the Human Rights Council during the general debate under Item 2, Ambassador Dara In, Permanent Representative of Cambodia, thanked the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for his update and for his reminder that the credibility of the international order is proven not in times of ease, but in moments of strain-when adherence to law is inconvenient and restraint demands courage.

He underscored that peace and security are not decorative aspirations but the pillars of the UN Charter and the foundation for the enjoyment of all human rights, warning that when peace collapses, law falls silent, and rights risk becoming hollow promises.

Ambassador Dara In expressed concern over what he described as an inversion of principles, in which international law is treated as optional, peace as negotiable, and force as expedient. He emphasised that the UN Charter does not permit selective compliance or the legitimisation of faits accomplis, noting that coercion cannot yield peace and occupation cannot confer legality.

He stated that since mid-May 2025, Thai armed forces have conducted sustained operations across several border sectors, resulting in grave harms to civilian communities and territorial encroachments within Cambodia. The human cost has been severe: civilian casualties, destruction of homes and infrastructure, pillage, forced eviction and large-scale displacement. Barbed wire and shipping containers continue to obstruct access to homes and villages, impeding safe and dignified return and prolonging civilian suffering.

Concluding his intervention, Ambassador Dara In called on the Council to place law above force and to respond decisively, stressing that only through respect for sovereignty, accountability, and principled multilateral action can human dignity be safeguarded and peace made durable.

By C. Nika