A/HRC/27/70 Action Council. Those bodies serve to help the Government to develop national policies in their areas of responsibility and were conceived to perform a coordination role within the Government. The national preventive mechanism created in 2009, referred to above, is composed entirely of government officials. The fight against corruption is undertaken by the governmental Anti-Corruption Unit, which reports to the Council of Ministers. 70. Notwithstanding the useful and necessary functions of those governmental mechanisms, the Special Rapporteur believes that they do not take the place of independent institutions. State institutions need to be monitored internally and externally. The structures for internal assessment seem to be in place. Externally, independent institutions are best placed to provide senior policymakers with an honest assessment of reality without embellishment and the best options for action untarnished by institutional ties. 71. The Special Rapporteur was given to understand by the Government that a draft law on a national human rights institution had been under preparation for some time and that work on it would resume shortly. He stresses that it will only bring added value to the human rights infrastructure today if its independence is guaranteed, in full conformity with the Paris Principles. 72. While taking due account of such views, the Special Rapporteur is of the opinion that if all sides were committed to making it a success, work could commence for the establishment of such an institution. In many countries with fully fledged independent national human rights institutions, conditions for the initial establishment of those institutions were not always optimal from the outset, but progress was seen in due course. 73. Many individuals have told the Special Rapporteur that it is impossible for there to be a truly independent national institution in the current political context in Cambodia. However, the Special Rapporteur notes that one exception is the Arbitration Council, which has been able to preserve its independence and thus its credibility before the parties to most of the labour-management disputes brought to it. Although the results of arbitration are not binding, he understands that several major buyers and trade unions have accepted to be bound by the conclusions of the Arbitration Council. He further recommends that all those who have a stake in peaceful labour relations in Cambodia work together to ensure that the Council will continue to be adequately and sustainably resourced, with full guarantees for its continued independence. 74. Nevertheless, the Special Rapporteur recognizes that independence alone will not ensure the effectiveness of such institutions. Much will depend on other factors, such as the nature of their mandates, the level of human and financial resources allocated to them, the availability and willingness of qualified individuals whose independence is widely accepted to serve on those bodies and other principles set forth in the Paris Principles. However, those institutions’ actual and perceived level of independence is central to their legitimacy, which is what would allow them to stand up for themselves in regard to the other substantive matters. 75. Work must begin immediately on improving existing institutions, whose independence (or lack thereof) has serious implications for the extent to which human rights are protected. They include the judiciary at all levels, the Cadastral Commission and the National Authority for Land Dispute Resolution, and those mechanisms mandated to resolve election-related disputes. 76. The Special Rapporteur notes that the establishment of other independent institutions is a legal obligation. He emphasizes that a fully independent national preventive mechanism empowered to prevent torture in law and in practice is required under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and should be established without delay. Similarly, as a State party to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, Cambodia is bound to 17