A/HRC/40/77 its resolution 2374 (2017) of 5 September 2017 establishing a regime of targeted sanctions for Mali and imposing a travel ban and asset freeze on individuals and entities engaged in actions or policies that threaten the peace, security or stability of Mali. Obstructing the delivery of humanitarian assistance; planning, directing, or committing acts that violate international human rights law or international humanitarian law; and the use or recruitment of children are also designation criteria under resolution 2374 (2017). He notes that the effectiveness of the sanctions regime depends on the follow-up actions undertaken by the Security Council and on the collaboration of other countries, especially neighbouring countries, in the event that a travel ban and/or asset freeze must be enforced. 9. The Independent Expert welcomes the appointment of 11 women to the new 32member cabinet of the Government of Mali, which was announced on 9 September 2018. The parliamentary elections in Mali, initially planned for 28 October and 18 November 2018, have been postponed for one month. The Government of Mali has said that the reason for the delay was the indefinite strike by the nation’s judges, since that strike prevented some candidates from obtaining the administrative documents required before 13 September 2018, which was the initial deadline for the submission of candidacies. 10. The Independent Expert welcomes the fact that the presidential election took place in 2018 despite the attacks launched by extremist groups against election officials and their destruction of election materials in some parts of the country, particularly in the central region. International observers were of the view that voting generally took place in an atmosphere of calm, despite security incidents in the north and centre of the country. They did not find any evidence of fraud. The Independent Expert has been concerned by the political tensions related to the post-electoral situation, but is encouraged by the fact that the situation is being resolved peacefully through negotiations. B. The security situation 11. The Independent Expert is concerned that the situation is worsening in the centre and north of the country. The people living in these areas are in a highly vulnerable position, and the issue of protection for civilian populations has not been handled well. It seems that government authorities remain incapable of combating violence in these regions. On 31 October 2018, the Government extended the state of emergency first declared in November 2015 for a further year. The Independent Expert would like to highlight the fact that that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights requires such derogations from it and their material consequences to be subject to a specific system of safeguards. 12. Ambushes and the use of improvised explosive devices against the Malian defence and security forces, MINUSMA and international forces are one of the main threats to the peace process. For example, on 26 September 2018, in Mopti Region, persons believed to be members of the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, a violent extremist armed group, attacked a convoy of Malian armed forces, killing one civilian and seven military personnel. Two Malian military vehicles that were escorting two civilian lorries from Bambara-Maoudé, in Timbuktu Region, to Douentza appear to have driven over a booby trap during an exchange of fire that followed an ambush by several armed men travelling in two vehicles mounted with machine guns. 13. The Independent Expert has been informed that, on 21 May 2018, jihadis arrived by motorcycle in the village of Waaka in Mopti Region. They approached two individuals, one a man of 82 years of age, accused them of opposing the interests of the jihadis and killed them. On leaving, they threatened to return and kill all the other enemies of Islam. He has been informed that, as another part of their strategy of intimidation, in the village of Toguéré-Koumbé, in Mopti Region, members of the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims had placed the village under an “embargo” since May 2016 because the villagers were believed to have accepted the presence of Malian armed forces in the region. This “embargo”, which lasted for several months, prevented the members of the majority Bozo community from leaving the village to tend their fields located outside the village’s boundaries. He has been informed of other attacks in the region, also attributed to the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, in which the oxen used to pull ploughs have 4 GE.19-00939