A/HRC/11/5 and prosecutors will remain under the authority of the minister. Also, government commissioners and senior law officers should be firmly reminded of the need for regular, ongoing and effective supervision of the activities of the courts and judiciary in order to ensure proper functioning and thus safeguard the rights of persons before the law. Such supervision should be carried out by the senior law officer on investigating magistrates and by the government commissioner on deputy prosecutors and district judges. 21. Judicial Training College: The opening of the Judicial Training College (EMA) has taken place and Lionel Bourgoin was appointed director but not granted the title of director-general or the related prerogatives, 3 as provided for in the Law of 20 December 2007. Under article 14 of that Law, the director-general is appointed by the President of the Republic by order of the Council of Ministers on the proposal of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, being also president of the Administrative Board of the College. However, since the President of the Court of Cassation has not been appointed, neither the Supreme Council nor the College’s Administrative Board has a president, which means that the director-general of the College cannot be appointed! 22. Also, the 2009 draft budget submitted by the Government (and rejected by Parliament at the time of drafting of the present report) simply discontinued all budgetary allocations to the institution. That situation, if ratified in the new draft budget, would make it impossible to go ahead with the announced recruitment and training of new judges on the basis of a competitive examination. 23. The work of finalizing the renovation of the College premises, which had been interrupted for over four months through lack of resources, has resumed and should be completed thanks to assistance under the justice sector support programme of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and allow the commencement of programmes, including in-service training for district judges. The aim of the College director is to resume continuous training for district judges, which was started last year (72 district judges have been trained and assessed to date), with those in the metropolitan zone. 24. The independent expert wishes to point out, however, that the primary objective of the College should be the implementation of the programme of initial training for judges, which is for the time being dependent on the appointment of the Administrative Board and director-general of the College. 25. A justice reform commission composed of 20 human rights specialists, who have no connection with the Government and receive technical assistance from MINUSTAH, has been set up by President René Préval. In the view of the independent expert, this commission is a key element in the success of the judicial reform since it represents an important tool in fostering the ownership of the process by the people. The commission should now focus on being able to support the reform process, in particular by taking steps to ensure that the citizens of Haiti feel fully represented and regularly informed by this follow-up mechanism. 26. Combating corruption: In the course of his mission in November 2008, the independent expert obtained much evidence that corruption, a scourge of Haitian __________________ 3 8 At the time of drafting of the present report, the director’s position had not been regularized by an official appointment established by order published in the Moniteur haïtien.