A/HRC/42/60 ensure effective accountability for the Cambodian Goals. Limits on freedom of expression risk diminishing the potential of this role. 61. More positively, the draft law on access to information offers potential for the media, civil society organizations and others to seek information on the implementation of the Cambodian Goals as a means to promote government accountability. Once adopted, considerable attention will need to be paid to support the implementation of the law, including the establishment of functioning units within ministries that can support public access to information. 62. During her visits, the Special Rapporteur was pleased to learn of some initiatives that can help to improve transparency and efficiency in public institutions. First, one-stop service windows aim to bring a variety of services closer to people in a simple, transparent and accountable way, with prices/charges affixed to notice boards, thus diminishing the risk of corruption. The Special Rapporteur learned of the increased use of these facilities in, for example, the Phnom Penh municipality. The Minister of Interior intends rolling these out across the provinces. Pilot one-stop service windows should be reviewed and, if deemed successful, fully resourced and rolled out across the country. 63. Budget accountability and transparency is important to ensure that budget allocations directed towards implementation of the Cambodian Goals are disbursed and used appropriately. In that regard, the Minister of Economy and Finance shared with the Special Rapporteur proposed large-scale reforms to public financial management, including the goal of strengthening performance-based budgeting by 2025. Through these efforts, budgeting will become based on the actual delivery of government policies and services. In order to do this, key performance indicators at both national and subnational levels will be established, with all provincial authorities having such indicators by 2022. The Ministries of Education, Youth and Sport, of Public Works and Transport, of Water Resources and Meteorology and of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation have already started working on key performance indicators. Other initiatives in place include the strengthening of auditing and inspection functions, at both the national and local levels. 64. Budgetary transparency has also been improved with the release of the executive summary of the annual budget. While the 2017 International Budget Partnership open budget survey, indicated that the Government had been providing scant budget information to the public, it is relevant to note that Cambodia scored higher than in 2012 and further efforts have been made in 2018.20 As part of the decentralization process, communes and sangkats have to disclose their budget and local investment plans and seek feedback from citizens. The Ministry of Economy and Finance is currently working at the district level, together with the National Committee for Subnational Democratic Development, which is in charge of decentralization, to increase budget transfers to the subnational levels. 65. The social accountability strategic plan for subnational democratic development, endorsed by the Committee for Subnational Democratic Development in July 2013, offers potential to improve accountability on the Cambodian Goals, given its focus on access to basic services, which is relevant to several of the Sustainable Development Goals. The core purpose of the initiative has been to empower citizens to hold Government to account for local service delivery and resource allocation, and therefore provide a means to combat corruption and promote transparency. The Government subsequently announced the implementation plan for the Social Accountability Framework, which ran from 2015 to 2018 as a joint initiative by the Committee and civil society organizations. The implementation plan was focused on four components: access to information and open budgets; citizen monitoring; facilitation and capacity-building; and learning and monitoring.21 Phase 2 is scheduled to run from 2019 to 2023. 66. In addition to promoting accountable and transparent institutions, including through combating corruption, accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals relies on 20 21 16 Available from www.internationalbudget.org/open-budget-survey/. See Asian Development Bank, “Cambodia: process review implementation of social accountability framework (I-SAF)” (October 2017).

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