A/HRC/39/73 attack. Women remain reluctant to report rapes and other sexual assaults. The Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of Victims is not fully aligned with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and, unfortunately, its implementation still results in the diversion of domestic violence cases to mediation, especially when the victim so requests. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that the Ministry of Women’s Affairs is beginning an assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of the law in order to improve its enforcement. Sexual harassment is not clearly defined in law beyond article 250 of the Criminal Code and awareness remains low. 50. The Special Rapporteur has raised the issue of the role of women in politics in previous reports (see A/HRC/33/62, para. 22 and A/HRC/36/61). She has reminded the Government that article 4 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women permits temporary special measures to redress imbalances. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has twice recommended temporary special measures to increase the representation of women in decision-making positions, especially in politics, the judiciary and the foreign and diplomatic service (see CEDAW/C/KHM/CO/3, para. 14 and CEDAW/C/KHM/CO/4-5, para. 29). According to information available to the Special Rapporteur, as of June 2018 women made up 20 per cent of the National Assembly (before the 2018 July election) and 11 per cent of the Senate (after the February 2018 election). It is noted that there have been some efforts in the civil service to have more women in decision-making positions. These include increasing the retirement age for women civil servants on a voluntary basis and the setting of a target of 20–50 per cent of newly recruited civil servants being women. The Special Rapporteur encourages the implementation and monitoring of these targets. 51. In an effort to regulate surrogacy and provide relevant protection to the women and children involved in such arrangements, a draft law was completed in April 2018. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that the draft was shared with her and she will provide comments to support its compliance with international human rights standards. V. Strengthening social protection, health and education 52. In anticipation of the Sustainable Development Goals localization plan, the Special Rapporteur has been building on her work on marginalized groups, seeking to better understand resource mobilization and prioritization decisions in the context of the progressive realization of socioeconomic rights in Cambodia. Cambodia is still experiencing rapid and strong economic growth which has provided resources to improve social protection and access to education, decent work and health care. In March 2018, the Special Rapporteur met with the Minister of Economics and Finance and was impressed by the strategic plans being implemented to improve budget reporting and tie budgetary decisions to measurable outcomes. The need to prioritize investment in human rights and related Sustainable Development Goals should manifest itself in the localization plan. 53. The Special Rapporteur was encouraged by the Government’s plans to develop social security and health equity funds and to work towards universal access to health care. A consequence of low public spending on health so far has been the extremely high burden of patient out-of-pocket health expenditure. Health expenditure is an issue for households and is the largest part of household non-food expenditure in Cambodia. Health care and social security are expensive but always a worthwhile investment by the Government in its people. 54. Furthermore, recent pilots have been undertaken on transferring funds to pregnant women and those who have recently given birth. The new maternity pay for women in the textile sector (120 per cent of salary for three months) is also positive. All such plans and strategies need to be adequately resourced and robustly monitored; in Cambodia, as around the world, pregnant women continue to lose their jobs for spurious reasons when their pregnancy is apparent or notified. The “official” reasons for this vary, but women ultimately lose their jobs, and the associated benefits, at a time when they and their children are especially vulnerable. 11