A/HRC/4/105 Page 4 Introduction 1. The Human Rights Council, in its decision 2/102 of 6 October 2006, requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to “continue with the fulfilment of [her] activities, in accordance with all previous decisions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights and to update the relevant reports and studies”. On the issue of mass exoduses, a comprehensive biannual report (E/CN.4/2005/80) was submitted to the sixty-first session of the Commission on Human Rights pursuant to its decision 2003/52. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) understands decision 2/102 as preserving the previous biennial reporting cycle in respect of this issue until otherwise decided by the Council, and accordingly the current report addresses the issue of human rights and mass exoduses. 2. At its sixty-first session the Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 2005/48 in which it expressed concern about “the scale and magnitude of exoduses and displacements of people in many regions of the world and by the human suffering of refugees and displaced persons”. In the resolution the Commission also reaffirms the primary responsibility of States to ensure the protection of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) within their territories. It further recognizes the complementarity between the systems for the protection of human rights and for humanitarian action and that coordination between the human rights, political and security components of United Nations operations makes an important contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights of persons forced into mass exodus and displacement. 3. In paragraph 19 of its resolution 2005/48 the Commission requests the High Commissioner to prepare and submit to the Commission an analytical report on measures taken to implement the present resolution and on obstacles to its implementation, including information on measures taken by OHCHR and other relevant United Nations bodies, taking into account information and comments provided by Governments, intergovernmental organizations, human rights treaty bodies, specialized agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). 4. Pursuant to that request, a comprehensive note verbale was sent on 14 December 2006 by the High Commissioner to the Member States of the United Nations, the relevant international organizations and a number of civil society organizations working on the issue of mass exoduses, asking them to provide the office with information on developments in this area. At the time of drafting this report, information had been received from the following countries: Argentina, Costa Rica, Finland, Georgia, Jamaica, Japan, Lebanon, and the Philippines. Information was also received from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 5. The present report is composed of five sections dealing respectively with: the status of ratification of relevant international instruments; activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; overview of information provided by Member States; information provided by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); and conclusions.