A/HRC/38/44/Add.3 Number of communications by alleged violation Expulsion 2 Legislation 8 Deaths in custody 14 Attacks or killings 23 Excessive use of force 26 Attacks or killings by NSA 30 Death penalty safeguards 34 Death threats 37 Due diligence/Impunity 54 0 10 20 30 40 50 20. The Special Rapporteur took up a high number of cases related to due diligence obligations, failure to conduct adequate investigations and impunity. The Special Rapporteur reminds States of their responsibility to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish and redress the harm caused by non-State actors. She further notes that a failure to investigate allegations of violations of the right to life and bring perpetrators of such violations to justice could in and of itself give rise to a separate violation of the right to life on the part of the State.8 Such investigations are also vitally important for preventing a culture of impunity. She further highlights that the revised Minnesota Protocol9 provides important guidance on practical steps to ensure investigations into potentially unlawful deaths are prompt, effective and thorough, and conducted with independence, impartiality and transparency as required by international human rights law standards. 21. Cases concerning death threats also feature prominently in the work of the Special Rapporteur, with a view to preventing possible extrajudicial killings. She highlights the responsibilities of States to provide, through judicial or other means, effective protection of individuals and groups who may be subject to extra-legal, arbitrary or summary executions, including those who receive death threats. 22. With regard to attacks or killings by non-State actors, the majority of these communications focused on killings of human rights defenders (HRD). Several communications dealt with patterns of killings, including by unknown assailants in the context of the “war on drugs,” or of indigenous peoples. These cases can involve staggering numbers of alleged extrajudicial killings, with victims in some instances numbering in the hundreds or thousands. Another group of NSA victims highlighted by the Special Rapporteur are LGBTQI individuals. She calls on States facing patterns of killings by non-State actors to do more to ensure the protection of vulnerable individuals or groups 8 9 10 See also Human Rights Committee, General Comment 31, The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, CCPR/21ev.1/Add.13, para. 15: “A failure by a State Party to investigate allegations of violations could in and of itself give rise to a separate breach of the Covenant”. The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016): The Revised United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Executions/Pages/RevisionoftheUNManualPreventionExtraLegalAr bitrary.aspx 60