A/RES/65/208
10. Welcomes the International Criminal Court as an important contribution
to ending impunity concerning extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and,
noting the growing awareness of the Court worldwide, calls upon those States that
are under an obligation to cooperate with the Court to provide such cooperation and
assistance in the future, in particular with regard to arrest and surrender, the
provision of evidence, the protection and relocation of victims and witnesses and the
enforcement of sentences, further welcomes the fact that one hundred and fourteen
States have already ratified or acceded to and one hundred and thirty-nine States
have signed the Rome Statute of the Court,5 and calls upon all those States that have
not ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute to give serious consideration to doing so;
11. Acknowledges the importance of ensuring the protection of witnesses for
the prosecution of those suspected of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions,
urges States to intensify efforts to establish and implement effective witness
protection programmes or other measures, and in this regard encourages the Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to develop practical
tools designed to encourage and facilitate greater attention to the protection of
witnesses;
12. Encourages Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations to organize training programmes and to support projects with a view
to training or educating military forces, law enforcement officers and government
officials in human rights and humanitarian law issues connected with their work and
to include a gender and child rights perspective in such training, and appeals to the
international community and requests the Office of the High Commissioner to
support endeavours to that end;
13. Expresses its concern about the occurrence of vigilante killings around
the globe, encourages States, in order to support efforts to prevent and end such
killings, to undertake or facilitate systematic studies of the phenomenon with a view
to taking context-specific measures and focused action, and requests the Office of
the High Commissioner and other relevant United Nations entities, upon request, to
support such studies and their follow-up;
14. Notes the potential of new technologies in the prevention and
investigation of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, encourages the
Office of the High Commissioner to consider convening, within existing resources,
an expert consultation to discuss the current and potential human rights applications
of new technologies and the risks and obstacles relating to their effective use, open
to the participation of Governments, regional organizations, relevant United Nations
bodies, civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders, and invites the
Office to report on the outcome of the consultation, in the form of a summary of
discussions, to the Human Rights Council;
15. Takes note of the reports of the Special Rapporteur to the General
Assembly; 12
16. Commends the important role that the Special Rapporteur plays towards
the elimination of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and encourages
the Special Rapporteur to continue, within his mandate, to collect information from
all concerned, to respond effectively to reliable information that comes before him,
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4
See A/64/187 and A/65/321.