A/HRC/28/83 The fragile security situation in northern Mali is pushing many groups, formed most often on the basis of their identity, to acquire weapons to defend their communities. Against a background of intercommunal and intracommunal tensions, sometimes manipulated by political and security actors, the risk of serious human rights violations among the civilian population is especially worrying. The Independent Expert notes the Government’s efforts to reform the National Human Rights Commission so as to bring it into line with international standards as well as its efforts to establish mobile counselling centres to expedite judicial proceedings for crimes committed in the north of the country. Regarding the peace process in Algiers, the Independent Expert emphasizes the importance of ensuring that any peace agreement comes under a legal framework in keeping with international human rights instruments, which means not granting amnesty to the perpetrators of international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and serious human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence. The Independent Expert stresses the fact that political arrangements often made to the detriment of victims of the serious human rights violations committed in Mali since the start of the crisis should not be a substitute for the rule of law. 2 GE.15-00252