A/HRC/15/57 carrying out their respective mandates. UNAMID personnel were also targeted by direct attacks on five occasions, resulting in the death of six peacekeepers. 28. In Kutum, North Darfur, two female staff members of international nongovernmental organizations were abducted by unidentified gunmen in July 2009, then released in mid-October. In August 2009, two UNAMID international civilian staff members were abducted by unidentified gunmen from their residence in Zalingei, West Darfur. The two were held in captivity for more than 100 days until their release in December 2009. An international employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross was released on 18 March 2010 after being abducted in El Geneina and held in captivity for a total of 147 days. On 15 April 2010, four peacekeepers were forcefully taken from outside their team site in Nyala, South Darfur, by unidentified armed men. The four were released unharmed on 26 April. 29. The Organization of Voluntary and Humanitarian Act of 2006 remains in force and continues to restrict the work of humanitarian groups, including through cumbersome procedural requirements. A positive example of judicial oversight of a decision made by the Humanitarian Aid Commission was, however, witnessed during the reporting period. On 21 April 2010, a court in Khartoum reversed a decision made by the Commission in 2009 to cancel the registration of and dissolve the Sudan Development Organization. The court held that, under the 2006 Act, the authority granted to the Commission was limited to the implementation of the policies and plans of humanitarian work and did not include the power to dissolve an organization. 2. Facilitating access to civilians, including those displaced 30. In the aftermath of the expulsion on 4 March 2009 of 13 non-governmental organizations from Darfur, the Government took positive steps towards facilitateing humanitarian assistance in Darfur, including by publicly welcoming the remaining and certain new non-governmental organizations to work in the region. In August 2009, a highlevel committee on humanitarian affairs, comprising senior Sudanese officials, representatives of the diplomatic community, the United Nations and regional and nongovernmental organizations endorsed the creation of a mechanism to verify the voluntary return of internally displaced persons in accordance with international humanitarian principles. Humanitarian access in Darfur was uneven during the reporting period. Access to urban areas outside the State capitals improved thanks to the presence of UNAMID team sites, while access to other areas, such as Jebel Marra and Jebel Moon, in West Darfur, and Kass, in South Darfur, were restricted owing to renewed fighting between Government and rebel forces and intertribal clashes. 31. On 15 November 2009, the North Darfur State Joint Committee was launched as a branch of the National High-Level Committee. All three Darfur States are required to establish joint State committees to ensure efficiency in the delivery of humanitarian assistance. C. Accountability and justice 32. The judicial response to serious human rights abuses remained weak during the reporting period. To date, the Government has failed to bring to justice those responsible for the law enforcement operation in Kalma, near Nyala, South Darfur, in August 2008, which resulted in the death of 33 internally displaced persons. Yet again, no one has been charged for the numerous carjackings and attacks on humanitarians that have occurred in Darfur since the beginning of 2008. In South Darfur, where intertribal fighting accounted for most of the civilian deaths in 2009, no criminal investigation is known to have been 10