A/HRC/18/40 54. The state of emergency in Darfur and the application of the NSS Act 2010 and the Emergency and Public Safety Protection Act 1997 continue to curtail fundamental rights and freedoms. Human rights violations, mainly by the NSS and Sudanese Military Intelligence, continued to be committed with impunity. Perceived critics of the Government were routinely arrested and kept in prolonged detention without judicial oversight, and sometimes subjected to torture or ill-treatment. In October 2010, two internally displaced persons who took part in a meeting with a visiting Security Council delegation to the Abu Shouk camp for displaced persons were arrested and detained by the NSS. They were subsequently released but never charged with any offence. One of them was rearrested in November, but released again. Two UNAMID staff members arrested in April and May 2011 in South and North Darfur were detained for several weeks, without being charged with any offence. Again in North Darfur, four internally displaced persons detained in connection with the killing of a community leader and his wife in the Abou Shok camp are still in detention since being arrested in August 2009. 55. Sexual and gender-based violence remained a serious concern in Darfur in spite of measures taken by the Government to address it. The persistent climate of impunity continues to create an environment conducive to the perpetration of sexual violence. Many incidents of sexual violence were not reported owing to fear of social stigma associated with rape, fear of reprisal and the victims’ lack of trust in the police to effectively investigate and prosecute offenders. Furthermore, the police do not have the capacity to follow up and investigate cases of sexual violence in areas under the control or influence of armed groups. These challenges notwithstanding, the Government has taken a number of positive steps to combat sexual and gender-based violence. In North Darfur, the authorities have significantly increased the number of female police investigators, while in West and South Darfur, female police investigators have recently been posted in family and child protection units of the Police solely to handle cases of violence against women. 21