A/HRC/38/38 V. Duties and responsibilities of judicial councils 44. Some regional standards list the tasks that judicial councils may perform, alone or in cooperation with other bodies. 39 The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights considers that the functions entrusted to judicial councils should be secured by law, and include administration, selection, appointment and the disciplinary system.40 Those tasks are intimately linked to the constitutional role of a judicial council as guarantor of the independence of the judiciary, and should therefore be set out in the Constitution, or in the equivalent basic law or constitutional instrument (see paragraph 41 above). 45. Regional instruments recommend that the different functions of a judicial council — such as appointment of judges, disciplinary matters and training — be attributed to various branches of such a council 41 or to different independent bodies competent for specific aspects of judicial administration. 42 The composition of these branches or bodies should reflect the type of tasks and the way they should be carried out. 46. Some of those competences, for instance the appointment and promotion of judges, are exercised by the majority of judicial councils, whereas other functions, for example those relating to management and budget matters, are attributed only to a limited number of councils. Overall, judicial councils should have a wide range of competencies to better protect and promote judicial independence and the efficient administration of justice. 47. In this section, the Special Rapporteur only focuses on the main competences carried out by judicial councils in relation to (a) the selection, appointment and promotion of judges, (b) court administration and budget control and (c) disciplinary proceedings and accountability. A. Selection, appointment and promotion of judges 48. The most widely recognized function of judicial councils is their role in the appointment of judges. In order to guarantee the independence of the judiciary, international and regional standards recommend that decisions on the appointment and promotion of judges be taken by a judicial council or an equivalent body independent of the legislative and executive branches of power. International and regional mechanisms have made similar recommendations. 49. The procedure for the selection, appointment and promotion of judges should be based on objective criteria previously established by law or by the competent authority. Decisions concerning the selection and careers of judges should be based on merit, having regard to the qualifications, skills and capacities of the candidates, as well as to their integrity, independence and impartiality. In the selection of judges, there should be no discrimination against judges or candidates for judicial office on any grounds, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, disability, sexual orientation or other status. The requirement that a candidate for judicial office must be a national of the country concerned should not, however, be considered discriminatory. 50. In a thematic report on the guarantees for judicial independence (see A/HRC/11/41, paras. 23–34), the Special Rapporteur took note of the variety of existing systems for the 39 40 41 42 10 See opinion No. 10 of the Consultative Council of European Judges, para. 42; and European Network of Councils for the Judiciary, resolution on self-governance for the judiciary: balancing independence and accountability, adopted at its General Assembly, held from 21 to 23 May 2008 in Budapest, para. 2. See Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, “Guarantees for the independence of justice operators”, para. 243. See opinion No. 10 of the Consultative Council of European Judges, para. 43. See the Kyiv Recommendations on Judicial Independence, para. 2.