A/HRC/9/13 page 4 6. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank the Government of National Unity, and the Government of Southern Sudan for their cooperation during her visits. She wishes to thank all her interlocutors and counterparts for their contribution. She regrets that she was not allowed access to Northern State5 and some of the officials and institutions in Khartoum which she had expressed the wish to visit,6 as necessary for the discharge of her mandate. She also regrets that the Government refused to issue a visa for the United Nations human rights officer assigned to service her mandate to travel with her to the Sudan in June 2008. 7. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of National Unity for the information provided with regard to action taken to implement the recommendations of the group of experts to further the protection of human rights in Darfur. 8. The Special Rapporteur would like to thank the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) human rights sections for the support they provided and all the people who took the time to provide her with information about the human rights situation in the Sudan. She commends the national human rights defenders and the international agencies for their hard work in further promoting and protecting human rights, and in providing humanitarian assistance to the people in need. I. GENERAL SITUATION A. International legal framework 9. Sudan is State party to a number of international human rights instruments.7 The second periodic report of the Sudan to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was due 5 The Special Rapporteur planned to undertake a three-day visit to Northern State during her visit to Sudan in March 2008 to assess the situation of communities affected by the Merowe Dam and the planned Kajbar Dam. Although the programme had been carefully coordinated with the Government and the United Nations had provided security clearance, permission to travel to Northern State was withdrawn the day prior to her departure, on the advice of the State Security Committee. The reasons provided were that the security services had observed mobilization in the areas affected by the dam project, as well as the presence of political party representatives and foreign observers. Two foreign nationals had been arrested and deported from Northern State. United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) Human Rights has been denied access to the area since August 2006. 6 7 National Intelligence and Security Services and Dam Implementation Unit. These include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its two Optional Protocols, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the 1926 Genocide Convention, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the two Additional Protocols, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Sudan is also a signatory to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It has recently referred the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to parliament for ratification.