A/HRC/27/43 professional training, and improves the status of the profession in terms of educational requirements, remuneration and equivalences with the wider civil service. However, the final text also allows that, in the case of a lack of funding for professional training, new recruits can be confirmed as permanent staff after one year of service, even without initial formal training: a possibility that does not exist in other professions with separate status. 48. OHCHR continued to advocate for the review of the legal framework governing sentence reduction and pardon and provided written advice to the Ministry of Interior in July 2013 on strengthening its compliance with human rights law. The latest draft royal decree on sentence reduction and pardon includes provisions for the application of sentence reduction and pardon on medical and humanitarian grounds, as guaranteed under the 2011 Law on Prisons, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international standards. OHCHR continued to advocate with the Ministry of Interior to include in the final drafting of the decree the relevant principles of the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), which provide for special attention to be given to pregnant women and women with children. OHCHR reached an agreement with the Ministry of Interior to help organize a joint workshop with the Ministry of Justice to review the final draft. 49. OHCHR continued to collaborate with trainers from the General Department of Prisons and the Police Academy of Cambodia to improve the quality of training for all prison staff. In September and October 2013, OHCHR organized two study visits for trainers of prison staff to two correctional centres and three provincial prisons. Through those visits, the trainers obtained feedback from relevant prison managers and former prison staff trainees on how to improve future training programmes. The visits helped trainers to garner practical examples and provide guidance to trainees throughout the course. OHCHR also supported the organization of two meetings of the trainers from the General Department of Prisons and the Police Academy of Cambodia in order to discuss challenges and strategies to improve their training curriculum. As a result, the trainers agreed to amend some of the training content, sessions and methodologies when they prepared the 2014 training plan. The Khmer version of an international handbook on the human rights-based approach to prison management produced by OHCHR was shared with the training team and widely distributed to prison authorities at national and provincial levels, other relevant stakeholders and civil society partners. 50. OHCHR provided advice on the draft five-year strategic plan of the General Department of Prisons (2014–2018) in July 2013, based on the relevant international human rights norms and its own assessment of the progress achieved and challenges remaining in prisons. The Office further supported the first inclusive national consultative workshop of the General Department of Prisons on the draft strategic plan in December 2013, which convened representatives from relevant government institutions and civil society organizations to review and refine the final draft. In 2014, OHCHR helped the General Department of Prisons print 500 copies of the final strategic plan in Khmer for dissemination nationwide. The plan guides the prison authorities and civil society organizations in developing an annual action plan for achieving the goals of prison reform policy. 51. OHCHR continued its independent monitoring of prisons, which helps inform its programme of support and advocacy for the protection and promotion of prisoners’ rights in Cambodia. Authorization for unrestricted access to prisons by OHCHR was renewed by the General Department of Prisons for 2014. The Office continued to combine comprehensive prison visits and targeted visits to specific individuals or groups of prisoners of concern. In November 2013, OHCHR carried out a first official joint monitoring visit (to Battambang prison) with officials from the Cambodian mechanisms established under the Optional 13