A/HRC/14/24 I. Introduction 1. The present report is my final report to the Human Rights Council as Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. During the period of my mandate, I have sought to maintain and build upon the important work and successes of my three predecessors since 1982, Asma Jahangir, Bacre Waly Ndiaye and Amos Wako. Through communications to Governments, country fact-finding missions, and annual reports to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, I have sought to contribute to the constructive development of the mandate, to improve working methods and to advance understanding of the complex factual, policy and legal issues arising within the context of the mandate. In this spirit, in addition to describing the activities undertaken over the last year, in the report I assess the mandate’s key activities and working methods, and provide a thematic review of the past six years. I also identify issues that would benefit from sustained research and analysis in the future. 2. In addition, addenda to the report contain three in-depth studies on: (a) accountability for killings by police (A/HRC/14/24/Add.8); (b) election-related killings (Add.7); and (c) targeted killings (Add.6). 3. The report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 8/3. 4. The terms “extrajudicial executions” and “unlawful killings” are used in the present report to refer to killings that violate international human rights or humanitarian law (E/CN.4/2005/7, para. 6). The various types of unlawful killings covered by this mandate are explained in detail below in section III. 5. I am grateful to the staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for their assistance in relation to the mandate. At New York University School of Law, my senior advisers Sarah Knuckey and Hina Shamsi have done superb work. I am also grateful for the excellent research assistance provided by Anna de Courcy Wheeler, Nishant Kumar, Danielle Moubarak, Wade McMullen, Lars Dabney, Rupert Watters and Ryan Ghiselli. II. Activities and working methods A. Communications to Governments 6. One of the Special Rapporteur’s principal activities is to communicate with Governments about alleged cases of unlawful killings. These communications take the form of “allegation letters” or “urgent action” letters, which typically set out alleged facts, analyse the applicable international law, seek clarification from the relevant Government on the accuracy of the allegations, and call upon the Government to take particular actions to reduce killings or impunity. 7. Such communications with Governments raise international awareness of specific domestic incidents and encourage Governmental attention. They create a regular and ongoing system of monitoring State behaviour, generate a record of abuses over time, provide clarity on the circumstances of specific incidents and give States an opportunity to set the record straight. The communications can also shed light on the interpretation of applicable law, promote accountability and encourage measures to reduce future killings. 3