A/HRC/38/38 104. Disciplinary proceedings should provide the accused judges with all the procedural guarantees set out in article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including the right to defend themselves in person or with the assistance of a legal counsel of their choice. 105. Decisions of the disciplinary body should be reasoned and subject to appeal before a competent court. Composition of judicial councils and selection of their members 106. All the appointment processes for the councils should be transparent and participative so to avoid and prevent corporatism and appropriation of the process by the de facto powers. 107. Judicial councils should include judges among its members. To avoid the risk of corporatism and self-interest, the councils may also include lay members, for example lawyers, law professors, jurists, Bar members, as well as citizens of acknowledged reputation and experience. Active politicians and members of the legislative or executive branches of power cannot simultaneously serve on a judicial council. The judge members of a council should be elected by their peers following methods guaranteeing the widest representation of the judiciary at all levels. Certain members of a council, for example the President of the Supreme Court, can be selected ex officio. 108. The election of lay members of a council should be entrusted to non-political authorities. When elected by parliament, lay members should be elected by a qualified majority, necessitating significant opposition support. In no case should they be selected or appointed by the executive branch. 109. The selection and appointment of the members of a judicial council should take place in an open and transparent way in order to eliminate the risks of political interference and appropriation of the process by the de facto powers, and prevent allegations of corporatism. 110. States should enact appropriate measures to ensure a gender perspective in the composition of a council and promote gender parity within judicial bodies, in particular, through a reduction in gender-based barriers to promotion and career advancement that persist within the justice sector. 111. When members of the executive branch, for example the Minister of Justice, participate in the work of a council as ex officio members, appropriate measures should be developed to ensure their independence from any potential interference. 112. The Chair of a council should be held by an impartial person who does not have any political affiliation. In parliamentary systems in which the President or Head of State has only formal powers, it is permissible to appoint him or her as the Chair of the council. In all other cases, the Chair should be elected by the council itself among its judge members. Neither the Chief Justice, the President of the Supreme Court nor the Minister of Justice should be appointed as the Chair of a judicial council. 19