A/HRC/4/36 page 10 37. The independence of lawyers is essential to the right to an effective defence guaranteed in the Constitution. In accordance with the due process guarantees in the human rights treaties and protections for defendants incorporated into the Constitution in article 38, the Government has a duty to ensure that lawyers are able to perform their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference, free from the threat of prosecution or other sanctions. 38. The Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia was created by law in 1995 to regulate the legal profession as “an independent and autonomous profession”. However, the independence of the Bar is widely perceived as having been compromised in recent years. Elections for the Bar Association’s presidency and the Bar Council have become highly politicized. The appointment of the Prime Minister and senior government ministers to the Bar in 2004 and 2006, notwithstanding their lack of requisite legal qualifications, has undermined the reputation and integrity of the Bar Association as an independent institution. Elections in October 2006 ended a dispute over the presidency that had paralysed the Association for two years in favour of the Acting President, who was widely perceived as the government candidate. The President’s strident position with regard to the establishment and role of a Defence Office within the Extraordinary Chambers for the Khmer Rouge trials has resurrected concern that the Bar is not independent and does not serve the best interests of all lawyers, regardless of their political affiliation. 39. The Special Representative is also concerned that highly questionable criminal charges of forgery, which carry a prison sentence of up to 15 years, remain pending against several, now former, Bar Council members who resisted the politicization of the legal profession. 40. The lack of independence and integrity of the judiciary, the prosecutorial authorities, and the legal profession pose a fundamental threat to human rights. Ministers and senior government officials enjoy wide immunities for breaches of the law, while innocent people become, at the instigation of the Government, the victims of the legal system. Thus, far from protecting human rights, the legal system becomes a principal agency of oppression. III. THE RIGHT TO DEFEND HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION, ASSOCIATION AND ASSEMBLY 41. The peace agreements guarantee the right of all Cambodian citizens to undertake activities to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. In the last 15 years, individually, and in association with others, Cambodia’s citizens have worked energetically for the human rights of all Cambodians, and for the specific rights of women, children, workers, the disabled, minorities and others. 42. While the Government has generally been supportive of educational activities, it has been wary of advocacy, and has generally reacted harshly to activities that are critical of its policies and practices. It has been hostile to organizations defending, advocating and monitoring human rights. Members of these organizations have frequently encountered the perversion of law enforcement and justice, and, on the part of State authorities, a reluctance to accept accountability, vaguely plausible denial followed by delays and obfuscation, and reliance on crimes being forgotten.