A/69/266 1,000 deaths in the ensuing communal violence (see A/HRC/23/47/Add.1 and Corr.1). The Special Rapporteur expressed concern over the slow pr ogress of investigations while noting the elaboration of the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill in 2011. 6. During her 2006 visit to Ethiopia, the former Independent Expert on minority issues was informed that, in December 2003, 424 ethnic Anuak had been killed in Gambella by members of other ethnic groups ( A/HRC/4/9/Add.3). Contributing factors included the relocation to the region of highlanders, and a po rous border with troubled Southern Sudan. Heavily armed Sudan People’s Liberation Army fighters had entered the region and the influx of refugees resulted in conflicts and a breakdown of traditional land-sharing and conflict resolution arrangements. Despite warnings signs, authorities failed to avert the violence. Conflicts over land use continue in the region. 7. Following years of tensions and disputes over land, in 2003 conflict heightened in Darfur, Sudan, between the Government and rebel groups which accused it of oppressing non-Arab black Africans. Government forces and Arab selfdefence militias, or Janjaweed, were accused of a systematic campaign to drive non-Arabs out of the region, resulting in up to 300,000 deaths, hundreds of villages destroyed and massive displacement. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry found that the crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur might be no less serious and heinous than genocide (see S/2005/60). 8. In Colombia, which was visited by the former Independent Expert on minority issues in 2010, Afro-Colombians reported ongoing violence, selective murders, disappearances, threats and communities forced to flee, despite Government claims that the armed conflict had ended. The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions found that indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities had been victimized by all parties to Colombia’s conflicts and that, historically, paramilitaries, sometimes in collusion with State forces, had appropriated land and committed massacres to intimidate local populations ( A/HRC/14/24/Add.2, para. 76). Resource exploitation, agriculture and mega-projects have created new motivations for violence. 9. Sectarian killings of religious minorities reportedly rose by more than one fifth in Pakistan in 2013. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan stated that 687 people had been killed in over 200 sectarian attacks, 22 per cent more than in 2012, while 1,319 people had been injured, a 46 per cent rise. 1 In Bangladesh, numerous violent attacks have been targeted at members of the Hindu minority on the basis of their religion, as raised in a press release by several mandate holder s in March 2013, 2 and attacks continue to date. 10. Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, Myanmar, face discrimination, exclusion and denial of citizenship. 3 Violence between Rohingya and Buddhists in 2012 left hundreds, mostly Rohingya, dead and over 150,000 displaced. The Special __________________ 1 2 3 4/24 www.southasianmedia.net/stories/south-asia/violence-against-minorities-rose-alarmingly-in2013-hrcp-story. www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13204&LangID=E. See the joint statements made by Special Rapporteurs and the Independent Expert on minority issues on 2 April 2007 and 31 October 2012. Available from, respectively, www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=7792&LangID=E and www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12716&LangID=E. 14-58850