A/HRC/33/39 36. The office followed up on the results of the joint OHCHR- Ministry of Justice survey on the use of the pretrial detention form adopted by the Ministry with OHCHR assistance in 2014, which for the first time called upon judges to lay out their legal reasoning when deciding on pretrial detention. To encourage its use, two regional training sessions for judges, prosecutors and court clerks were held in July 2015, the impact of which will be assessed in a follow-up survey in July-August 2016. In January 2016, together with the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, OHCHR dedicated to this issue one of the “Legal Dialogues” series, which convenes lawyers working at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and lawyers working in the domestic system. The dialogue encouraged domestic lawyers to call upon judges to use the form when considering requests for provisional release, reflecting the practices of the Extraordinary Chambers and other international best practices. 37. The lack of a legal aid policy, coupled with an increasing but still insufficient budget for legal aid, continued to lead to cases of arbitrary detention. OHCHR provided grants to the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia and to the non-governmental legal aid organization International Bridges to Justice throughout 2015 to improve access to legal aid by individuals whose procedural rights in appeal had been allegedly infringed. Of the 222 priority cases followed by the organization, 46 people were released, including 11 who had been held in excessive detention; 85 are currently serving their sentences, with all case documents having been obtained; 15 presented opposition motions; 14 requested final verdicts; final verdicts were obtained for 50 cases; and no information was found on 27 cases. Legal aid provided by the Bar Association allowed for progress to be made on 53 more cases in Phnom Penh, while legal documentation was obtained to support the detention of all prisoners concerned. The progress made through the implementation of these grants led to a considerable reduction in the backlog of appeal cases that had been pending for more than four years. A new one-year grant was approved for International Bridges to Justice from June 2016 to continue to tackle the backlog in six prisons, focusing on cases pending appeal for more than three years, and other priority appeal categories, such as prisoners with disabilities, juveniles, women with children, or lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) prisoners. Further work is required with the judiciary and the prison system to streamline the process of sharing final verdicts between courts and prisons and thus to ensure that prisoners are lawfully detained and released on time. 38. OHCHR continued to encourage regular local meetings among the police and court and prison officials. Between February and May 2016, it supported six such meetings in Kampong Speu, Pursat, Siem Reap, Takeo, Pailin and Battambang provinces. The meetings were an opportunity for discussions on areas where cooperation should be strengthened, the daily challenges that they face, and solutions to improve the effective and efficient delivery of justice. 39. OHCHR conducted training and follow-up for provincial prosecutors, police and gendarmerie officers on the prevention, investigation and prosecution of acts of torture and ill-treatment. Training on the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was conducted in late 2015 in Prey Veng province. Further provincial training and follow-up sessions at the district level are planned for 2016. 40. OHCHR continued to promote the legacy of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, using their best practices and experience to strengthen national judicial capacities and, ultimately, the rule of law. In this regard, in March and April 2016, OHCHR, jointly with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, delivered the first compulsory human rights course for trainee lawyers, aimed at ensuring that they possess the necessary knowledge to defend the rights of their clients to a fair trial. 8