Chapter 4 • Independence and Impartiality of Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers remuneration may also constitute a threat to the independence of judges in that it may for instance make them more amenable to corruption. Furthermore, the independence of judges, prosecutors and lawyers is frequently threatened by the refusal of the Executive to allow them to organize freely in professional associations. For instance, where the Executive issues licences to lawyers and obliges them to exercise their profession as members of State-run professional organizations, they cannot carry out their work independently. However, judges, prosecutors and lawyers are frequently also subjected to other kinds of persecution. Such acts may involve public criticism by either the Executive or Legislature aimed at intimidating the legal professions, but they also often take the form of arbitrary detentions and direct threats to their lives, including killings and disappearances.5 In some countries the fact of being a woman lawyer further adds to the precariousness of the profession. Because of their willingness to take up the defence of cases involving the sensitive issue of women’s rights, these lawyers face intimidation and violence, sometimes resulting in death. The threats and attacks described above are not only perpetrated by State authorities, but are frequently also carried out by private individuals, either independently or in connivance with bodies such as criminal organizations and drugs cartels. Clearly, unless judges, prosecutors and lawyers are able to exercise their professional duties freely, independently and impartially, and unless the Executive and the Legislature are likewise always prepared to ensure this independence, the rule of law will slowly but steadily be eroded, and with it effective protection of the rights of the individual. As can be seen, it is the entire structure of a free and democratic constitutional order that is upheld by an independent and impartial Judiciary, independent and impartial prosecutors and independent lawyers. 4. International Law and the Independence and Impartiality of the Judiciary 4.1 Applicable international law All general universal and regional human rights instruments guarantee the right to a fair hearing in civil and criminal proceedings before an independent and impartial court or tribunal, and the purpose of this section is to analyse the meaning of the terms “independent” and “impartial” in the light of the case-law of the competent international monitoring organs. While these treaties as interpreted do not solve all the 5 See e.g. UN doc. E/CN.4/2000/61, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, 74 pp.; and Attacks on Justice – The Harassment and Persecution of Judges and Lawyers (Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (CIJL), Geneva), 10th edn., January 1999-February 2000, 499 pp. Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers 117