A/HRC/11/2 page 3 I. INTRODUCTION 1. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions documents the main activities undertaken between April 2008 and March 2009 to address the grave problem of extrajudicial executions around the world.1 He focuses on four issues: (a) responding to reprisals against individuals assisting the Special Rapporteur in his work; (b) upholding the prohibition against the execution of juvenile offenders; (c) the killing of witches; and (d) the use of lethal force in the process of policing public assemblies. 2. The report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 8/3, and takes account of information received and communications sent between 1 April 2008 and 15 March 2009. 3. An overview of the mandate, a list of the specific types of violations of the right to life upon which action is taken, and a description of the legal framework and methods of work used in implementing this mandate can be found in the first report of the current mandate holder (E/CN.4/2005/7, paras. 5-12). 4. 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, as well as to Sarah Knuckey, William Abresch, Hina Shamsi and Madeleine Sinclair of the Project on Extrajudicial Executions at New York University School of Law, who provided invaluable expert assistance and advice. II. ACTIVITIES A. Communications 5. The present report covers communications sent from 16 March 2008 to 15 March 2009 and replies received from 1 May 2008 to 30 April 2009. The details of my concerns and the information provided in response by Governments are reflected in considerable detail in an addendum to the report (A/HRC/11/2/Add.1), which is of crucial importance. 1 In the report, the term “extrajudicial executions” is used to refer to executions other than those carried out by the State in conformity with the law. As explained in my previous reports “[t]he terms of reference of this mandate are not best understood through efforts to define individually the terms ‘extrajudicial’, ‘summary’ or ‘arbitrary’, or to seek to categorize any given incident accordingly”. Rather, “the most productive focus is on the mandate itself, as it has evolved over the years through the various resolutions of the General Assembly”, the Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Council (E/CN.4/2005/7, para. 6; A/HRC/4/20, para. 1, fn. 1).