A/HRC/19/61 Security Council in the case of, for example, Darfur (resolution 1564 (2004))12and Lebanon (resolutions 1595 (2005), 1636 (2005) and 1644 (2005)); and by the Secretary-General in the case of, for instance, Côte d'Ivoire,13 Timor-Leste (resolution 1690 (2006)), Guinea14 and Pakistan.15 The commissions of inquiry had prescribed terms of reference that focused on violations of human rights and humanitarian law. 16 38. The “Arab spring” uprisings and the violent repression that followed have also been the subject of several recent commissions of inquiry established by the Human Rights Council. For example, in its resolution S-15/1, the Council established an independent commission of inquiry, to investigate alleged violations of international human rights law in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, establish facts and identify those responsible, make recommendations on accountability measures. 17 The Council, in its resolution S-16/1, established an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged violations of international human rights law in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011.18 39. The Human Rights Council also mandated a fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict, in 2009,19 and a fact-finding mission for the Syrian Arab Republic, in 2012.20 2. Regional commissions of inquiry 40. The Council of Europe has set up commissions of inquiry with a variety of mandates, under the authority of various bodies.21 In 2006, a 46-member European Parliament inquiry was established to investigate the alleged use of European countries by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners. 22 In a speech before the European Parliament in 2009, the international law expert Antonio Cassese called for the establishment of a permanent commission of inquiry within Europe to facilitate expeditious investigations into whether torture or other international crimes had been perpetrated. 3. National commissions of inquiry 41. Several contemporary national commissions of inquiry have been established to examine issues concerning State secrets and complicity in torture in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.23 Two such commissions of inquiry are the Detainee Inquiry in the United Kingdom (commonly known as the Gibson Inquiry) and the 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 The commission recommended that the Security Council should refer the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. S/2004/384. S/2009/693. S/2010/191. The United Nations has also supported truth commissions; see for example the Historical Clarification Commission in Guatemala, which published its findings in 1999, and the commission on the truth for El Salvador, mandated by the peace agreements of 16 January 1992 that ended the war. The commission issued a report (A/HRC/17/44) and will issue its final report in March 2012. The commission issued a report (A/HRC/S-17/2/Add.1) and will submit a written update to the current report to the Human Rights Council at its nineteenth session. A/HRC/12/48. A/HRC/18/53. See Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, “Setting up an independent European commission of inquiry into serious allegations of grave human rights violations”, 7 April 2011. The findings of the inquiry and other national and international inquiries were examined by four special procedures mandate holders (A/HRC/13/42). Many other contemporary national commissions of inquiry address other subjects; for example, in Guatemala, a commission, which published its final report in 1999, addressed the characteristics and causes of the civil war in the early 1980s. 11