A/HRC/8/3 page 3 I. INTRODUCTION 1. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions documents the main activities undertaken during 2007 and the first three months of 2008 to address the grave problem of extrajudicial executions around the world.1 He focuses on three issues of particular importance: (a) the role of national commissions of inquiry in impunity for extrajudicial executions; (b) the right to seek pardon or commutation of a death sentence; and (c) prisoners running prisons. 2. The report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council decision 1/102, and takes account of information received and communications sent in the period from 1 December 2006 to 15 March 2008. 3. An overview of the mandate, a list of the specific types of violations of the right to life upon which action is taken, and a description of the legal framework and methods of work used in implementing this mandate can be found in document E/CN.4/2005/7, paragraphs 5 to 12. 4. I am grateful to the staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for their highly professional assistance in relation to the mandate, to William Abresch, and to Sarah Knuckey and Jason Morgan-Foster of the Project on Extrajudicial Executions at New York University Law School, who provided invaluable expert assistance and advice. II. ACTIVITIES A. Communications 5. The present report covers communications sent and replies received from 1 December 2006 to 15 March 2008. The details of my concerns and the information provided in response by Governments are reflected in considerable detail in addendum 1 to the report, which is of crucial importance. 1 The term “extrajudicial executions” is used in this report to refer to executions other than those carried out by the State in conformity with the law. As explained in my previous reports “[t]he terms of reference of this mandate are not best understood through efforts to define individually the terms ‘extrajudicial’, ‘summary’ or ‘arbitrary’, or to seek to categorize any given incident accordingly”. Rather, “the most productive focus is on the mandate itself, as it has evolved over the years through the various resolutions of the General Assembly and the Commission” (E/CN.4/2005/7, para. 6; A/HRC/4/20, para. 1, fn. 1).