A/HRC/19/49 I. Introduction 1. In the present report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 13/21, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights assesses the human rights situation in Guinea during the period from January to December 2011 and the actions taken by the Government to implement the recommendations of international human rights mechanisms, including those made at the universal periodic review of the Human Rights Council and the recommendations made in the previous report of the High Commissioner (A/HRC/16/26). In the report, she also reviews the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) in Guinea, and concludes with recommendations for the Government and the international community. II. Visit of the High Commissioner 2. The High Commissioner visited Guinea in March 2011, shortly after the inauguration of President Alpha Condé. During her visit, she met with the President and senior Government officials, the United Nations country team, civil society organizations and associations of victims of human rights violations, and the diplomatic corps. In her discussions with the President and senior Government officials, she raised critical human rights issues, including the need for the Government to expedite measures to end impunity and to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the international commission of inquiry into the human rights violations committed on 28 September 2009. She also urged the Government to establish a truth, justice and reconciliation commission and an independent national human rights institution, and to cooperate with international human rights mechanisms, including the universal periodic review mechanism, the special procedures and the treaty bodies, and to implement their recommendations. She offered the continued support of OHCHR for Guinea. 3. President Alpha Condé affirmed the Government’s commitment to respect human rights and stressed that it would not tolerate impunity. The Government requested assistance from OHCHR, in particular in establishing a truth and reconciliation process and in fulfilling its treaty reporting obligations. The Government also pledged to cooperate with the United Nations human rights mechanisms and with OHCHR. Civil society organizations highlighted the need for a strong “justice” element in the truth and reconciliation process to be established by the Government in order to deal with the legacy of impunity in Guinea. 4. The civil society organizations asked the Government to support the panel of judges appointed to investigate the human rights violations of 28 September 2009 in order for it to carry out a credible investigation, and noted that there was no definition of torture and other international crimes in Guinean law. They also called for the establishment of an independent national human rights institution, as well the reform and strengthening of the system of administration of justice and reform of the security sector. They pointed to a large backlog of criminal cases awaiting trial, resulting in exceedingly large numbers of people held in prolonged pretrial detention, and expressed concern about the significant number of clandestine detention facilities in the country. Some civil society representatives also stressed the importance of proper commemoration of the victims of decades of human rights violations, and requested the return of the bodies of those who had disappeared during the successive massacres in the country to their families for burial. They recalled that thousands of bodies had been buried in mass graves throughout the country and that the Government had cordoned off these sites for security reasons, presumably because they were located on military land. 4