A/HRC/15/46 under the control of the Supreme Council. One consequence of the failure to adopt this law is that the three members of the Supreme Council who should be elected by judges from amongst their peers have been appointed by the Ministry of Justice since the Supreme Council was created. The Constitution states that elections cannot take place until the Law on the Status of Judges has been promulgated. 22. It is perhaps indicative of the challenges facing Cambodia that, seventeen years after the Constitution was promulgated, the organic law organizing the court system is still not in place. It should be noted here that the law has been also been delayed in part over disagreements on how to establish a commercial court or commercial chambers required under the terms of Cambodia’s entry into the World Trade Organization. C. Supreme Council of Magistracy 23. The Supreme Council of Magistracy (SCM) was established by law in accordance with article 132 of the Constitution in 1994. The Council is formally chaired by the King and includes eight other members, of whom five hold ex officio positions: Minister of Justice; President of the Supreme Court; General Prosecutor to the Supreme Court; President of the Appeal Court; and General Prosecutor to the Appeal Court. The remaining three members should be three judges elected by the Bench from amongst their own number. 24. Questions have been raised as to the independence of the Supreme Council due to the inclusion of a member of the executive branch, the Minister of Justice, as an ex officio member. Furthermore, article 21 of the Supreme Council Law states that the elections for the members cannot take place until a law on the status of judges is promulgated. This law is still pending as part of the Government’s legal and judicial reform programme and consequently, since 1994, these three members have been appointed by the Minister of Justice. 25. Despite the perception that the Supreme Council is under the influence of the Government, the Council is currently in disagreement with the Ministry of Justice over the question of oversight of prosecutors. Under Cambodian law, prosecutors have the status of judges (juge debout) and therefore come under the control of the Supreme Council. The Ministry of Justice is seeking to bring prosecutors under its direct control in accordance with the practice in some other countries with civil law systems. Furthermore, a pending amendment to the Supreme Council Law seeks to make permanent the current arrangement whereby the Ministry of Justice functions as the secretariat of the SCM. 26. The present composition consists of active judges and prosecutors, resulting in a potential conflict of interest in cases where junior judges are working under the supervision of Council members. Council members hold other positions with onerous responsibilities and are therefore unable to devote sufficient time and attention to the duties of an SCM member. The Council consequently meets infrequently. It was partly for this reason that the former SCM Secretariat was considered unable to carry out its inspection responsibilities and the responsibilities were transferred to a team within the Ministry of Justice. A solution to this problem could be that membership of the Council be restricted to retired judges/prosecutors or membership might be on a full-time remunerated basis for the duration of the appointment, meaning that judges would have to relinquish their judicial activities while sitting on the Council. 27. In September 2009, a sub-decree created a new “assistance team” to assist the Disciplinary Council of the SCM in fulfilling its investigatory responsibilities. This team consists of ten active judges and one under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice. It is essentially a duplicate SCM within the SCM, with the same weaknesses of conflicts of 7