A/HRC/27/69 State, El-Daein in East Darfur State, Zalingei in Central Darfur State and Ed-Damazin in Blue Nile State. During the visits, he held meetings with senior government officials, the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator, representatives of United Nations and international relief agencies, members of the diplomatic community, civil society organizations, leaders of different opposition political parties, tribal leaders, human rights defenders, professional groups and other interlocutors, and received reliable information about the general situation of human rights in the country. Khartoum 7. In Khartoum, he held meetings with senior government officials including the Minister of Justice, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Welfare and Social Security, the Minister of Education, the Under-Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Assistant to the President of the Sudan and Head of the Sudan delegation to the negotiations on the conflict in the “Two Areas” of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, and the Government’s Chief Negotiator for Peace in Darfur. The Independent Expert was briefed about the Government’s efforts to improve the human rights situation in the country and he advised the Government to intensity its practical efforts, highlighting the need for the Government to fully implement the recommendations made in his previous report. He also held meetings with senior officers of relevant institutions including the Advisory Council for Human Rights, the judiciary — including the Constitutional Court, the National Intelligence and Security Service, the Humanitarian Affairs Commission, the National Commission for Human Rights, the Human Rights Committee of the National Assembly, the Commission for Refugees, the Unit for Combating Violence against Women and Children, the Family and Child Protection Unit of the Police Force, the General Prosecutor, and the Special Prosecutor for Crimes in Darfur. 8. The Independent Expert met with professional groups including the Sudanese Bar Association, the Union of Sudanese Journalists, the Sudanese Independent Journalists Network, the Khartoum International Centre for Human Rights, different independent civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and individuals alleging human rights violations and their families who shared their personal experiences with him. He also met with members of the diplomatic community, leaders and representatives of different opposition political parties, the Vice-Chancellor and senior officers of the University of Khartoum as well as academics from different universities in the Sudan, who shared with him valuable information on the human rights situation in the country. He further visited the Al-Huda Prison and Reformatory Centre and the Omdurman Female Prison to assess the conditions of the prisons and talk to the inmates therein. Both prisons had excellent facilities and reformatory programmes for the inmates. The Al-Huda Prison was of very high international standard. Darfur 9. In North Darfur, the Independent Expert met the Governor of the State and members of his Cabinet, the Chairman of the Darfur Regional Authority, the Special Prosecutor for Crimes in Darfur, the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, and civil society organizations. He also met with the Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative and Joint Chief Mediator for Darfur and Head of UNAMID and members of the UNAMID senior management team to discuss the human rights and humanitarian situation in Darfur. The issue of armed conflicts generally and the consequent civilian displacements was identified as a major factor of human rights violations in the State. The poor conditions in the IDP camps, the safety of IDPs and returnees, protection of civilians 4