A/HRC/10/59 page 5 Introduction 1. The present report is submitted on behalf of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, in addition to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions 7/20 and S-8/1. 2. In resolution 7/20, the Human Rights Council invited the above-mentioned thematic special procedures to make recommendations, within their respective mandates, on how best to assist technically the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in addressing the situation of human rights, with a view to obtaining tangible improvements on the ground, taking also into account the needs formulated by the Government. 3. In resolution S-8/1, the Council invited the same thematic special procedures to also urgently examine the current situation in the east of the country with the view to providing a comprehensive report to the Council at its tenth session. 4. The present report, after describing the working methods of the seven authors, establishes a baseline assessment of the human rights situation, in particular the requested urgent examination of the situation the east of the country. On this basis, the report sets out detailed recommendations on how to best technically assist the Government with a view to achieving tangible improvements of the human rights situation on the ground. 5. The seven thematic special procedures would like to thank the Council for the trust extended in assigning them this mandate. They would also like to thank the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), which served as the Secretariat of their group. 6. The authors express their gratitude to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in particular the Minister of Human Rights, for the good cooperation extended and note with appreciation the openness of the Government to continuing a dialogue with the special procedures of the Human Rights Council and to inviting country visits of mandate holders, in particular the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions. I. STEPS TAKEN BY THE SEVEN THEMATIC SPECIAL PROCEDURES TO IMPLEMENT THE MANDATE 7. In compiling this report, the seven thematic special procedures were able to draw on first-hand information gathered during official fact-finding visits of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (March 2007), the Special Rapporteur on