A/HRC/6/19 page 82 Response of the Government of the Sudan on Recommendation 2.1.4 Written information submitted to the group of experts on Darfur on 21 August 2007 The Director-General of Police issued order 2007/59 concerning the facilitation of the work of international monitors, as described hereunder. State police chiefs must respect the immunities of members of the United Nations mission who in turn must respect all the laws and local regulations governing their work. The General Department of Legal Affairs must provide advice to all police personnel, inform them of the duties of international human rights monitors and follow up on the implementation of these instructions. The security services prepared a draft document, which was reviewed by the Advisory Council, spelling out the rights of arrested persons to notify their families of their place of detention, not to be held in incommunicado detention or to be subjected to acts harmful to their physical and mental health or torture and to be allowed family visits. The draft has been submitted to the director of the security services for approval. The Sudanese Delegation considered that most of the incidents of car hijacking have been committed by non-security forces. The Government stated that it established a joint committee to deal with the issue (UN, mix of Government agencies) a few months ago. One of the problems has been that those cases were not reported in time. In addition, when NGOs recruited staff, they did not monitor adequately the background of staff they recruited Within the past 5-6 months about 56 cars were returned proof that the mechanism was working. With respect to the arrest of the CARE director, the Delegation emphasised that the individual, not the organisation, was targeted, due to security concerns. The Government informed CARE about the full details on the reasons of this decision. Information Received from Other Sources on Recommendation 2.1.4 Further violence targeting the humanitarian community has forced agencies to adapt their activities to mitigate attacks on their staff, in particular, forcing a much greater reliance upon air transport and “in and out” interventions. Attacks against the relief community increased by 150% over the past 12 months. In 2007, over 100 aid workers were temporarily abducted, 59 convoys have were attacked or looted, 57 humanitarian premises were invaded by armed men, and 88 humanitarian vehicles were hijacked. Leading NGOs withdrew from certain areas on 24 occasions, citing violence against aid workers. Daily attacks include assaults, banditry and other violence targeting aid workers. The humanitarian response to current and new needs continued to be hampered by security incidents. During August 2007, seven humanitarian vehicles were hijacked or stolen, and four humanitarian convoys were attacked. Five humanitarians were kidnapped or abducted, and three were physically assaulted. In the first half of 2007, five aid workers were killed and 11 injured, while 53 others had been physically assaulted. Many areas of Darfur still remained a hostile environment for relief efforts. Humanitarian personnel had to relocate on 24 occasions, which hampered the delivery of aid to hundreds of thousands of intended beneficiaries. This had a direct and tangible impact on the quality and quantity of aid and resulted, in some cases, in the