A/HRC/17/42 way in the country,11 it is perhaps useful to restate a number of principles and formulate some recommendations that remain relevant in the context of providing technical assistance to the Haitian authorities. A. The justice system 41. Prison staff were especially affected by the earthquake of 12 January 2010, which destroyed the Palace of Justice, Ministry of Justice and Public Security and Palace of the Legislature. The international community came promptly to the aid of the justice system in Haiti, allowing its institutions to continue working. The conditions in which they did so were difficult at the outset but have improved considerably since. The court of first instance in Port-au-Prince, for example, is now housed in buildings formerly occupied by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which also house the Court of Cassation, Court of Appeal, the court of urgent applications, investigation chambers and the public prosecutor’s office. 42. In the framework of its rule of law project, which aims at building capacities in the areas of justice and law and order, the United Nations Development Programme has provided the Ministry of Justice and Public Security with 250 m2 of temporary office space equipped with 30 work stations, allowing it to work in better conditions. The President of the Court of Cassation 43. Looking beyond the question of infrastructure, the Independent Expert maintains that the three law reform acts passed in 2007 form the keystone of the reform of Haiti’s justice system. However, the reform process is being held up, because a president of the Court of Cassation has yet to be appointed. During his last mission, in February 2011, the Independent Expert called on the two presidential candidates in the general elections to place the issue of that appointment at the top of their respective State reform programmes. Given the high expectations in this regard, the country’s judicial institutions are relying more than ever on the country’s new President to demonstrate his determination to sever the link between the executive and judiciary branches and so launch a clear signal on the direction that the reforms will take. 44. Indeed, apart from his own ex officio powers, the President of the Court of Cassation is the key to reform of the justice system. He presides over the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and can therefore set in train the programme for the certification and recruitment of judges. He also presides over the Governing Board of the Legal Service Training College. The Supreme Council of the Judiciary 45. The Independent Expert again notes with regret that the Supreme Council of the Judiciary is not yet operational because it still has no president. Some judges were appointed in 2010 and others who were dishonest had their mandates withdrawn by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. All of that has taken place outside the framework of the acts of 2007. The Independent Expert again recommends that the Supreme Council of the Judiciary should be established and provided, in particular in the context of the financing of reconstruction, with properly trained staff and the funding it needs to operate 11 10 At the time this report was drafted (March 2011), the second round of the elections had still not taken place. GE.11-12426