A/HRC/15/57 14. The Government has not made any new effort to send regular patrols to protect vulnerable populations. UNAMID conducts regular patrols to most camps for internally displaced persons in Darfur. In some areas in West and South Darfur, UNAMID provides patrols around the clock, seven days a week, where needed. There have been no joint patrols carried out between UNAMID and Sudanese forces (recommendation 1.1.5). 2. Protection of women against violence 15. With regard to the recommendation that it publicly acknowledge and condemn violence against women, the State Government of West Darfur publicly denounced and condemned violence against women on the occasion of the celebration of “16 days of activism against sexual violence” in Fora Baranga, in December 2009. While significant progress has been made towards the protection of women, acts of sexual violence, particularly against internally displaced women and girls, continue to be of concern. In 2009, UNAMID recorded 101 reported cases of sexual violence (49 in North Darfur, 25 in South Darfur and 27 in West Darfur). The majority of the victims were internally displaced girls and women. The incidents took place inside and outside camps for internally displaced persons. These numbers notwithstanding, there is general acknowledgement among stakeholders that reported cases of sexual violence have decreased. This might be because of the Government’s failure to combat impunity, which has resulted in victims failing or refusing to file complaints when attacked. Many victims continue to report their lack of trust in the police. UNAMID reports that the police very often fail to take appropriate action in sexual violence cases unless the alleged perpetrator is named by the victim. The problem has been further compounded by the fear of stigma associated with rape, the lack of police presence in many remote areas in Darfur, reporting fatigue among victims, who rarely benefit from any remedial action by the authorities, and the overall weakness of the justice system to hold perpetrators accountable (recommendation 1.2.2). 16. Significant progress was made in the implementation of State committee workplans. Through the assistance of the technical cooperation project funded by the Government of Switzerland, UNAMID provided training sessions and supported the State committees to finalize their workplans. This training has enhanced the State committees’ involvement in cases of sexual and gender-based violence through coordination with relevant stakeholders, including with police investigators, prosecutors and medical and rape counselling personnel (recommendations 1.2.4 and 1.2.6). Significant progress was made in the deployment of female police in Darfur during the reporting period. In North Darfur, the Government reported the training and deployment of more than 100 female police officers. In South Darfur, however, the deployment of female police officers has been slow. Only one female officer was observed by UNAMID to be working with the family and child protection unit. The presence of women police officers above the rank of lieutenant is extremely limited and, in this regard, further recruitment is needed (recommendation 1.2.7). 3. Children and armed conflict 17. The Child Act 2009 was passed by the National Assembly on 29 December 2009. The new law contains a number of constructive provisions, including the definition of a child as anyone who has not reached the age of 18 years and the revocation of “signs of maturity” as a criterion for defining a child. The Act also raises the age of criminal responsibility from 7 to 12 years, makes child exploitation and abuse a criminal offence, and establishes a comprehensive juvenile justice system; however, it does not criminalize female genital mutilation (recommendation 1.3.2). 18. Much progress was made in the work of the child disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes. The national commission responsible for the programmes has established core standards for the release of children, family reunification and reintegration 7