E/CN.4/2004/3/Add.3 page 8 17. The national Constitution is the supreme law. Treaties have higher status than laws. However, the principal international (regional American and universal) human rights instruments, including the two International Covenants, have constitutional status (Constitution, art. 75, para. 22). No law may be incompatible with a treaty and no treaty with the Constitution. Although the Criminal Code is applicable throughout the national territory, each province has its own code of criminal procedure. 18. The judicial system is organized on the basis of federal and provincial courts. Federal courts have jurisdiction over federal offences (drug trafficking, smuggling and so on). Judgements are public. The accused is entitled to counsel, either a private defence lawyer or one appointed by the court, and has the right to submit exculpatory evidence and call witnesses for the defence. While criminal proceedings vary from one province to another, they are generally divided into a criminal investigation phase or pre-trial examination and a hearing phase or oral proceedings. The old system of written, inquisitorial proceedings is gradually being replaced by oral, accusatorial proceedings. The legislation of the provinces of Córdoba and Mendoza reflects significant progress in this direction. 19. A competitive process for the selection of judges has been in place since 1994. The President of the Republic appoints the judges to the Supreme Court with the approval of two thirds of the members present in the Senate. He also appoints the other judges to the lower federal courts on the basis of a shortlist put forward by the Council of the Magistrature, with the agreement of the Senate (Constitution, art. 99, para. 4). Provincial governors have similar prerogatives. President Kirchner recently made the mechanism for appointing judges to the Supreme Court more democratic by limiting his own prerogatives and subjecting candidates to public scrutiny before making a formal proposal to the Senate. Candidates for judges of lower courts are selected by the Council of the Magistrature by means of public competitive examinations. 20. Responsibility for enforcing the law and maintaining order and public security lies with various institutions. The federal police, Gendarmería Nacional and the coastguard service report to the Ministry of Justice, Security and Human Rights. Provincial police forces are administered by provincial executive bodies. B. Rights and guarantees 21. The national Constitution establishes a number of rights and guarantees. Article 18 stipulates that no inhabitant may be punished without first being tried under a law in force prior to the act giving rise to the proceedings. No one may be arrested without a written order from the competent authority. A person’s right to a defence before the courts is inviolable. No one may be tried by special commissions or removed from the jurisdictions designated by law prior to the act in question, or compelled to testify against themselves. The same article stipulates that the country’s prisons shall be healthy and clean for the security, not for the punishment, of the prisoners detained in them. Judges shall be held responsible for any measure authorized by them as a precaution that causes suffering to detainees over and above that caused by their detention.