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Advance Version Distr.: General 1 June 2010 A/HRC/14/24/Add.1 Advance Version Distr.: General 1 June 2010 Original: English Human Rights Council Fourteenth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston* Addendum Communications to and from Governments * Owing to its length, the present report is circulated as received. GE. A/HRC/14/24/Add.1 Contents Paragraphs Page I. Introduction............................................................................................................. 1 3 II. Communications and replies ................................................................................... 2-7 3 A. Violation alleged............................................................................................. 3 3 B. Subject (s) of appeal ....................................................................................... 4 4 C. Character of replies received .......................................................................... 5-6 4 D. Observations of the Special Rapporteur ......................................................... 7 4 III. Tabulation of communications and replies.............................................................. 8-12 4 A. “Communications sent” and “Government responses received” .................... 9 5 B. “Number and category of individuals concerned............................................ 10 5 C. “Alleged violations of the right to life upon which the Special Rapporteur intervened” ...................................................................... 11 5 D. “Character of replies received”....................................................................... 12 5 2 A/HRC/14/24/Add.1 I. Introduction 1. This report contains a comprehensive account of communications sent to Governments between 16 March 2009 and 15 March 2010, along with replies received between 1 May 2008 and 30 April 2010. It also contains responses received to communications that were sent in earlier years. II. Communications and replies 2. Along with fuller reproductions or summaries of correspondence, this report summarizes the correspondence regarding each communication under four headings for ease of reference. A. Violation alleged 3. Violations are classified into the following categories: (a). Non-respect of international standards on safeguards and restrictions relating to the imposition of capital punishment (“Death penalty safeguards”). (b). Death threats and fear of imminent extrajudicial executions by State officials, paramilitary groups, or groups cooperating with or tolerated by the Government, as well as unidentified persons who may be linked to the categories mentioned above and when the Government is failing to take appropriate protection measures (“Death threats”). (c). Deaths in custody owing to torture, neglect, or the use of force, or fear of death in custody due to life-threatening conditions of detention (“Deaths in custody”). (d) Deaths due to the use of force by law enforcement officials or persons acting in direct or indirect compliance with the State, when the use of force is inconsistent with the criteria of absolute necessity and proportionality (“Excessive force”). (e). Deaths due to the attacks or killings by security forces of the State, or by paramilitary groups, death squads, or other private forces cooperating with or tolerated by the State (“Attacks or killings”). (f). Violations of the right to life during armed conflicts, especially of the civilian population and other non-combatants, contrary to international humanitarian law (“Violations of right to life in armed conflict”). (g). Expulsion, refoulement, or return of persons to a country or a place where their lives are in danger (“Expulsion”). (h). Impunity, compensation and the rights of victims (“Impunity”). The short versions contained in parentheses are used in the tabulation of communications. 3 A/HRC/14/24/Add.1 B. Subject(s) of appeal 4. The subjects of appeal are classified in accordance with paragraph 6 of Commission of Human Rights resolution 2004/37 and paragraph 5 (b) of General Assembly resolution 61/173. C. Character of replies received 5. The replies received have been classified according to the following five categories designed to assist the Commission in its task of evaluating the effectiveness of the mandate: (a). “Largely satisfactory response” denotes a reply that is responsive to the allegations and that substantially clarifies the facts. It does not, however, imply that the action taken necessarily complies with international human rights law. (b) “Cooperative but incomplete response” denotes a reply that provides some clarification of the allegations but that contains limited factual substantiation or that fails to address some issues. (c) “Allegations rejected but without adequate substantiation” denotes a reply denying the allegations but which is not supported by documentation or analysis that can be considered satisfactory under the circumstances. (d) “Receipt acknowledged” denotes a reply acknowledging that the communication was received but without providing any substantive information. (e) “No response”. 6. There are two minor, additional characterizations: (i) Where a response has been received but has not yet been translated by the United Nations, the response is characterized simply as “Translation awaited”; (ii) Where a response has not been received from the Government but less than 90 days has elapsed since the communication was sent, that fact is indicated by characterizing the response as: “No response (recent communication)”. D. Observations of the Special Rapporteur 7. In order to underscore the importance of the dialogue between the Special Rapporteur and Governments and to avoid any appearance that the principal goal is the exchange of correspondence for its own sake, this report contains brief comments by the Special Rapporteur on the extent to which he considers each reply to have responded adequately to the concerns arising under the mandate. An indication is also provided in instances in which additional information is required to respond effectively to the information received. III. Tabulation of communications and replies 8. To provide an overview of the activities of the mandate in the past year, this report also includes a table that contains the following information by country. 4 A/HRC/14/24/Add.1 A “Communications sent” and “Government responses received” 9. These columns contain the total number of communications sent by the Special Rapporteur and the total number of responses received from Governments. The columns also contain subtotals for urgent appeals (UA) and allegation letters (AL). B. “Number and category of individuals concerned” 10. The subjects of communications are classified in accordance with paragraph 6 of Commission of Human Rights resolution 2004/37. C. “Alleged violations of the right to life upon which the Special Rapporteur intervened” 11. This column lists the number of communications containing allegations of a particular category. (See Section I, paragraph 3above). D “Character of replies received” 12. See Section I, paragraph 5 above 5 A/HRC/14/24/Add.1 Table of Communications Numbers and category Governments of individuals Alleged violations of Character of replies Communications sent responses received concerned the right to life received Afghanistan 1 AL 6 males Attacks or No response killings Bangladesh 1 UA 5 males Death penalty Largely safeguards satisfactory response 1 AL 6 unknown Excessive force No response (members of (recent indigenous communication) communities) Belarus 1 UA 1 male Death penalty Translation safeguards awaited 1 UA 1 male Death penalty Cooperative but safeguards incomplete response China 1 AL 1 male Excessive force Translation awaited 1 UA 4 males and 1 Death penalty Largely female safeguards satisfactory response 1 UA 156 unknown Excessive force Translation (demonstrators) awaited 1 UA 1 male and 1 Death penalty Largely female safeguards satisfactory response 1 UA 1 male (foreign Death penalty Cooperative but national) safeguards incomplete response 1 UA 12 males Death penalty Cooperative but safeguards incomplete response 1 UA 1 male Death penalty No response safeguards (recent communication) Colombia 1 AL 1 female, 5 Attacks or No response males, 6 minors killings (members of indigenous 1 UA community) Death threats No response 6 A/HRC/14/24/Add.1 1 female, 2 males (human rights defenders) Egypt 1 AL 1 male (foreign Death in custody No response national) El Salvador 1 UA 2 females, 2 Attacks or Cooperative but males (human killings and death incomplete rights defenders) threats response and 16 others Ethiopia 1 UA 5 males Death penalty Cooperative but (opposition party safeguards incomplete leaders) response Gambia 1 AL Group concern Death threats No response Guatemala 1 AL 1 male (human Attacks or Receipt rights defender) killings acknowledged Guinea 1 UA Approximately Attacks or No response 150 killings (demonstrators, unknown) Honduras 1 UA 2 males Attacks or No response killings 1 UA 2 males, 3 Excessive force No response unknown (demonstrators) India 1 AL 1 female, 1 male Excessive force Largely satisfactory 1 AL 2 males Excessive force Largely satisfactory response 1 AL 1 female, 1 male Excessive force No response Indonesia 1 AL 1 male Impunity No response 1 AL 2 males Death in custody No response 1 UA Group concern Concern on No
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