Chapter three: Democracy and good political governance • Review the Local Government Act of 1997 (as amended in 2004), particularly with regard to the allocation of land and the functions of the chiefs. A compromise arrangement would be to restore fully the chiefs’ allocation functions within the context of the new councils. This could be done by having the chiefs preside over the councils’ land-allocation sessions. The councils would provide technical services, including a secretariat, land surveying and the registration of title, once the decisions on land allocation have been made. (Government of Lesotho, IEC, international cooperating partners) • Commit adequate financial resources in the public budget for the capacity building of the local councils. (Government of Lesotho, IEC, international cooperating partners) • Strengthen the oversight agencies. This could require procedural changes such that the Office of the Ombudsman, the OAG, the DCEO and the Police Complaints Authority report directly to Parliament in order to enhance the oversight role with regard to accountability of the legislature and the executive. (Government of Lesotho, IEC, international cooperating partners) Objective 3: Promote and protect economic, social and cultural rights, and civil and political rights i. Summary of the CSAR 200. The CSAR provides a comprehensive overview of the human rights regime in Lesotho, including the measures available to enforce various rights. Lesotho’s human rights regime consists of the following: • International treaties and conventions. • Regional treaties and conventions. • The constitution of Lesotho (1993). • National laws, including statutes, common law and customary law. 201. The constitution contains a bill of rights (chapter II), which covers justiciable civil and political rights, and a section (chapter III) on nonjusticiable economic, social and cultural rights entitled ‘Principles of State Policy’. 202. The CSAR notes some reservations concerning the rights of freedom of expression and of association. As regards freedom of expression, concern is expressed that the country does not have freedom-of-information legislation, but relies on archaic laws that “greatly hamper the media in their efforts to obtain information and report freely on the activities of government”. Furthermore, journalists are afforded no constitutional protection with regard to the maintenance of confidentiality of their sources and the Internal Security Act criminalises nondisclosure of information in certain circumstances. 67