A/HRC/42/31 once in March 2019 to discuss the new 2019–2023 joint monitoring indicators, which will guide the work in the justice sector for all relevant stakeholders. At that meeting, OHCHR provided a review of progress on reaching the joint monitoring indicators and encouraged engagement to implement activities on which there had been no progress, in particular the agreed study on judicial integrity. 30. One of the activities included in the 2014–2018 joint monitoring indicators was the creation of a legal aid policy. The draft policy was finalized in August 2018, following a consultative and participatory drafting process in which OHCHR took an active part. The draft policy significantly extends the scope and objective of legal aid and sets out a series of recommendations for harmonizing the legal framework and establishing a governance body. OHCHR will continue advocating for its adoption and implementation. The legal aid budget increased in 2018 and again in 2019. The Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia delegated at least one lawyer to each province and, together with the Ministry of Justice, simplified the administrative procedure for requesting a legal aid lawyer, resulting in an increased access to legal aid in all provinces. 31. In the absence of a comprehensive legal aid system, OHCHR continued supporting legal aid non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by providing grants for the provision of legal aid in cases relating to access to justice for persons with disabilities, land and housing rights and 119 prioritized cases of prisoners pending appeal. More than three dozen final judgments were obtained, which helped reduce the backlog in the Court of Appeals. Through OHCHR intervention, 13 prisoners who had been held in excessive detention for periods ranging from one month to over two years were released. There was also improvement in communication among criminal justice actors, including lawyers, court clerks and prison officials. However, challenges remain such as access to case files, no transportation of prisoners to their appeal hearings, trials in absentia, lack of legal representation and lack of notification of verdicts. These challenges will be the focus of the National Conference on Communication within the Criminal Justice System, co-organized by OHCHR and the Ministry of Justice, which was scheduled to take place in June 2019. 32. Throughout the period, OHCHR undertook human rights analysis of draft or enacted legislation. In addition to the amendments to the Constitution and the Criminal Code mentioned earlier, OHCHR began an analysis of the draft law on surrogacy and participated in a regional expert meeting organized by OHCHR, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Fund. OHCHR published a commentary on the Law on the Minimum Wage, which was adopted in June 2018. In March 2018, OHCHR contributed to the development of the tenth draft of the environment and natural resource code by participating in workshops and providing written detailed comments relating to human rights. 33. OHCHR monitored judicial proceedings in more than 40 cases, identifying gaps in the implementation of international human rights standards where further technical assistance is required, particularly regarding fair trial rights. 34. In 2018, together with the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, OHCHR conducted three regional training workshops for judges in Kampot, Mondulkiri and Pursat Provinces to follow up on the new pretrial detention form. The workshops focused on the importance of providing legal reasoning when deciding cases of pretrial detention, in line with the pretrial guidelines issued by the Ministry of Justice in 2014. Despite the increased use of the form by judges, the number of people in pretrial detention increased, both in number and as a proportion of the prison population, primarily due to the Government’s anti-drug campaign. 35. OHCHR continued its support for the installation of the criminal case database at six first instance courts, with new modules installed in the 12 courts where it was already operating. The database records all case information from the investigation stage through to the prosecution, trial and sentence execution stage. The database should increase transparency and efficiency in the courts, and also help to avoid excessive pretrial detention and detention beyond the period of sentencing by improving access to information and communication between government agencies. OHCHR observed greater use of the database by some courts, as well as public access to the database and an increasing number 7