A/HRC/23/25 in her visit to Morocco, undertaken in her capacity as Independent Expert in the field of cultural rights.40 The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers has issued two country visit reports addressing violence against women. 41 22. In March 2009, Human Rights Council mandated seven experts including the Special Rapporteur on violence against women to examine the human rights situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.42 The experts have since submitted three reports to Council in which they assessed the response of the Government to recommendations made by, inter alia, the High Commissioner, human rights mechanisms and Government’s commitments made in the course of the universal periodic review on sexual violence and impunity.43 The Special Rapporteur was a member of the special procedures mandate holders tasked by the Council in 2009 “to urgently seek and gather information on violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people”. 44 The Special Rapporteur was also among the group of experts, comprising seven mandate holders, established in March 2007 by the Council in its resolution 4/8 to follow up on the implementation of recommendations on Darfur.45 The inclusion of the Special Rapporteur in these mandates ensured that attention was paid to violence against women and girls in the subsequent reports. 23. There are currently 12 geographic or country-specific mandates. There has been generally less emphasis on the issue in the country mandates; nonetheless, outside the context of technical assistance and capacity-building, country reports and press releases have occasionally highlighted the situation of women, including violence against women and girls. For example, in March 2012, during the Human Rights Council interactive dialogue, conflict-related sexual violence against women was raised in the discussion on Myanmar. The mandate holder for Haiti has mentioned the issue of violence against women in his interactive dialogue with the Council and also in his reports. In his reports the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia has also highlighted sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and female genital mutilation, and forced child marriage.46 The Special Rapporteur on violence against women and the Independent Expert on human rights in Somalia convened a joint side-event during the twentieth session of the Council to promote a discussion on follow-up to their recommendations. III. Synergies and linkages between the Human Rights Council and other relevant intergovernmental processes 24. This section reviews existing synergies and linkages between the Human Rights Council and other intergovernmental processes in the area of violence against women. It focuses on the General Assembly, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the Security Council. The 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 A/HRC/20/26/Add.2. A/HRC/20/20 and A/66/289. In its resolution 10/33 on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the strengthening of technical cooperation and consultative services, the Human Rights Council invited six special procedures mandate holders and the Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral for children and armed conflict to report on the development of the situation in the Democratic Republic. A/HRC/16/27 and Corr.1 and A/HRC/13/64 and Corr.1. A/HRC/10/22. A/HRC/6/19. A/HRC/15/48. 9