A/HRC/41/35/Add.2 Recommendation Status independent assessment of the work of the Public Information Institute and its application of the Act (para. 96 (a) and (b)) classification of State secrets. Establish a transparent procedure for the selection of Public Information Institute commissioners, removing the eligibility requirement of 10 years’ experience in the civil service (para. 96 (c) and (d)) Not implemented. Invite the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers to undertake a country visit (para. 97 (a)) Implemented. A visit of the Special Rapporteur has been confirmed by the State for August 2019. Consider signing an agreement with OHCHR for the establishment of a country office (para. 97 (c)) Implemented. The OHCHR country office in Honduras was established on 4 May 2015 and officially opened in November 2016. To the media Embrace a professional code of ethics that can provide a frame of reference for selfassessments (para. 94 (a)) Not implemented. To international cooperation agencies and United Nations bodies Provide financial and technical support for initiatives to reinforce freedom of opinion and expression and for the establishment of a national protection mechanism (para. 97 (b)) D. Implemented. Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories 41. The former Special Rapporteur, Frank La Rue, carried out an official visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories from 6 to 17 December 2011. He presented his report on the visit at the twentieth session of the Human Rights Council, held in June 2012 (A/HRC/20/17/Add.2). 42. The visit was undertaken in the context of continuing political conflict, revealing a varied, but often threatened, environment for freedom of opinion and expression. In Israel, the Special Rapporteur found that restrictive national security legislation tended to undermine access to information. He observed discriminatory treatment of Palestinian citizens of Israel and members of the Bedouin community and attempts to curtail their right to freedom of opinion and expression, alongside pervasive censorship of the media by the military. The Special Rapporteur gathered reports of raids on media outlets and physical harassment of journalists, photographers and human rights defenders by members of the Israeli security forces in the occupied Palestinian territories. Journalists were also arrested, detained and subjected to travel bans by security forces. Reports of deliberate attacks against Palestinian, Israeli and foreign journalists covering demonstrations in the West Bank were also received by the Special Rapporteur. 43. In the occupied Palestinian territories, the Special Rapporteur identified the overall weakness of the legal framework protecting the right to freedom of opinion and expression as a primary point of concern. In both Gaza and the West Bank, restrictions on media outlets imposed by the Palestinian Authority and the de facto authorities, including bans on the distribution of certain newspapers, were prevalent, along with intimidation of journalists by intelligence services and State security forces. The Special Rapporteur found common stories concerning arbitrary arrests followed by short detention periods during which journalists were subjected to interrogation as to the content of their work. 14