A/HRC/8/4 page 13 28. In addition, both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and regional instruments provide that everyone has the right to a public hearing. This guarantee is related to access to justice, and contributes to transparency and to the independence and impartiality of tribunals. In this regard, the Committee has stated that courts must make information regarding the time and venue of the hearings available to the public and provide for adequate facilities for the attendance of interested members of the public, within reasonable limits considering, inter alia, the potential interest in the case. Access by the media and media accounts of the progress of the trial can help strengthen commitment to the proper conduct of proceedings and to protection of the rights of the participants. 4. Cultural barriers 29. Language difficulties can lead to a lack of understanding of what is at stake, the rights of participants, the institutional channels for claiming those rights, and the course of the proceedings. For this reason international instruments establish the right to have the free assistance of an interpreter if the accused cannot understand the language used in court.26 This has to do with the principles of fairness and equality of arms in criminal proceedings.27 Cases involving immigrants, asylum-seekers and ethnic minorities are revelatory, since cultural and language barriers compound the already precarious situation in which they find themselves in regard to the effective exercise of their rights before the courts. In addition, it usually transpires that the worse the situation, the more serious the consequences of lack of access to justice, as demonstrated by cases involving illegal workers, or foreign women who are sexually exploited.28 30. The administration of justice is not automatic, and may be influenced by the differences between the cultural and economic backgrounds of those involved. This is particularly relevant when a case involves ethnic and racial minorities, who may be at a disadvantage because they do not belong to the culture of the judicial official.29 26 Vid. CDH, Comunicación nº 451/1991, Harward c. Noruega, párr. 9.5; CDH, Comunicación nº 219/1986, Guesdon c. Francia, párr. 10.2; Corte Interamericana de derechos Humanos, Opinión Consultiva OC-16/99 de 1 de octubre de 1999, Derecho a la información sobre la asistencia consular en el marco de las garantías del debido proceso legal, párr. 120. 27 CDH, Comunicación Nº 219/1986, Guesdon c. Francia, párr. 10.2. 28 N. K. D. Lemon, “Access to justice: can domestic violence courts better address the needs of non-English speaking victims of domestic violence?”, Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law and Justice, Vol. 21, 2006, p. 38. 29 Cfr. C. Branson, “What is access to justice? Identifying the unmet legal needs of the poor”, Symposium. Eleventh Annual Philip D. Reed Memorial Issue. Partnerships across borders: A Global Forum On Access to Justice, Fordham International Law Journal, vol. 24, 2000, p. 196.