A/HRC/4/36 page 7 18. When the Special Representative met the President and some members of the Constitutional Council during his second mission to discuss the Council’s role in enforcing the constitutional guarantees of human rights, he was concerned about the fact that some members had doubts as to the direct applicability of the treaties in Cambodian law, notwithstanding article 31. 19. Since the Constitution does not set out in detail the rights it guarantees, the human rights treaties provide crucial substantive elaboration of the content of those rights. Unless the Constitutional Council, as guarantor of the Constitution, is prepared to uphold constitutionally protected treaty rights against encroachments from subsequent legislation, human rights cannot be adequately protected and Cambodia’s assertion that the treaties take precedence over national law cannot be sustained. 20. While Cambodia’s adherence to international human rights instruments is to be applauded, to protect human rights and meet these international obligations the Government must ensure that individuals are able to exercise their rights under the rule of law and claim effective remedy when these rights are violated. II. EFFECTIVE REMEDY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION 21. The right to an effective remedy by competent national tribunals for acts violating rights granted by the Constitution or by law is a fundamental principle of human rights. In practice, neither the constitutional guarantees of human rights, nor the institutions created by Cambodia’s Constitution to enforce them, provide an effective remedy for violations of human rights. A. The Constitutional Council 22. The Constitutional Council, which has the responsibility for protecting and interpreting the Constitution, has shown a marked reluctance to challenge government legislation on the grounds that it violates human rights guarantees. In December 2004, it asserted the constitutionality of the 1991 Law on Demonstrations, despite a widespread view that the Law violated the constitutionally guaranteed right to peaceful assembly. In November 2006, the Council approved a Law on the Status of National Assembly Members, rejecting an application from a group of opposition members that it violated the constitutional guarantees of parliamentary immunity provisions and the right to freedom of expression. 23. The promulgation of the Law on Aggravating Circumstances for Felonies, promulgated in January 2002, in order to increase penalties, illustrates the failure of the institutions established under the Constitution, i.e. the Government, the National Assembly, the Senate, the Constitutional Council and the courts, to uphold rights guaranteed in the Constitution and to ensure that children receive the protections provided for in the Constitution and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 24. When the draft law was being debated in the Senate on 6 December 2001, 34 out of 51 senators voted against the draft. Three dissenting senators were summarily dismissed from their posts by the Cambodian People’s Party, a case that was subsequently pursued by the