E/CN.4/2000/9
page 4
Executive summary
The Special Rapporteur, Sir Nigel Rodley, submits his seventh report to
the Commission. Chapter I deals with aspects of the mandate and methods of work.
Chapter II summarizes his activities in 1999. Chapter III contains a summary of
communications sent by the Special Rapporteur and replies from Governments, from
11 December 1998 to 15 December 1999. The Special Rapporteur transmitted
information to or received responses from 77 countries. He sent more than
147 urgent appeals on behalf of more than 450 identified individuals.
Observations by the Special Rapporteur on the situation with respect to
allegations of torture in several countries are included.
During the period under review the Special Rapporteur undertook four
missions. The report on the visit to Romania (19-29 April) is contained in
Addendum 3 to the present report; the report on the visit to Cameroon
(12-20 May) in Addendum 2; and the report on the visit to Kenya
(20-29 September) in Addendum 4. He also undertook a joint mission to East Timor
with the Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary execution
and on violence against women, its causes and consequences (see A/54/660,
transmitted to the Commission in document E/CN.4/2000/115).
Regarding country visits, the Government of China has invited the Special
Rapporteur to visit that country. The Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to
the United Nations Office at Geneva gave an initial positive reaction to the
Special Rapporteur's request sent in 1999 to visit his country. The Deputy
Permanent Representative of Brazil, pending a formal invitation from the
Government, expressed his hope that a mission by the Special Rapporteur to
Brazil would come to fruition. The Special Rapporteur's requests to visit India,
Indonesia, Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria have not resulted in invitations.
No mandate-related issues have arisen during the year under review. The
methods of work of the Special Rapporteur have been those followed previously,
as approved most recently by the Commission in its resolution 1999/32,
paragraph 21. In particular, he has continued to seek cooperation with holders
of other Commission mandates to avoid duplication of activity in respect of
country-specific initiatives.
A significant development for the mandate was the invitation, contained
in General Assembly resolution 53/139, paragraph 24, and Commission resolution
1999/32, paragraph 29, for the Special Rapporteur to present an interim report
to the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly on overall trends and
developments with regard to his mandate. In November 1999, he accordingly
submitted a report (A/54/426) to the Third Committee of the General Assembly
under agenda item 116 (a).
Annexed to his main report are the Principles on the effective
documentation of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, from the Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, also
known as the Istanbul Protocol. This manual is intended to provide international
guidelines for the assessment of individuals who allege torture and illtreatment, for the investigation of cases of alleged torture and for the