A/HRC/7/22 page 4 I. INTRODUCTION 1. The Commission on Human Rights established the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan in its resolution 2005/82. Sima Samar was appointed Special Rapporteur and was requested to monitor the human rights situation in the Sudan and to report to the Commission (now the Human Rights Council) and the General Assembly. The Council, in its resolution 6/34, decided to extend for one year the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/82. 2. From December 2006 to December 2007, the Human Rights Council maintained its concern with regard to the human rights situation in Darfur. On 13 December 2006, a special session of the Council was held on Darfur and a resolution adopted, in which the Council called for a high-level mission to travel to Darfur to assess the human rights situation and the needs of the Sudan in that regard. The Special Rapporteur, who was a member of the mission, submitted her report (A/HRC/4/80) to the Council in March 2007. 3. The Council, taking note of the report and its findings, appointed a group of experts on the situation of human rights in Darfur to work with the Government of the Sudan to foster the effective implementation of previous human rights recommendations. Recommendations concerning protection of civilians, humanitarian access, accountability, justice and monitoring of implementation were prioritized by the group with a time frame for implementation and indicators for measurement of compliance (A/HRC/5/6). The Special Rapporteur submitted the group’s final report to the Council in December 2007 (A/HRC/6/19). 4. In its resolution 6/35, the Council acknowledged the efforts made by the Government of the Sudan to implement the recommendations identified by the group of experts, but expressed its concern that, for various reasons, the implementation of many recommendations had not been fully completed so as to lead to the desired level of improvement in the situation of human rights in Darfur. It expressed particular concern at the fact that perpetrators of past and ongoing serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Darfur had not yet been held accountable for their crimes and urged the Government of the Sudan to address urgently this question, by thoroughly investigating all allegations of human rights and international humanitarian law violations, promptly bringing to justice the perpetrators of those violations. The Council urged the Government of the Sudan to continue and to intensify its efforts to implement the recommendations identified by the group of experts in accordance with the specified time frames and indicators. 5. In its resolution 6/34, the Council requested the Special Rapporteur to ensure effective follow-up and to foster the implementation of the remaining short-term and the medium-term recommendations identified in the first report of the group of experts (A/HRC/5/6) through an open and constructive dialogue with the Government of the Sudan, taking into account the final report of the group of experts (A/HRC/6/19) and the replies of the Government thereto, and to include information in that regard in her report to the Council at its ninth session. 6. The present report covers the period from September to December 2007 and updates the report presented to the General Assembly at its sixty-second session on the situation of human rights in the Sudan (A/62/354).