A/60/316 I. Introduction 1. The present report is the seventh submitted to the General Assembly by the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 59/182 (para. 28) and Commission resolution 2005/39 (para. 29). It is the first report submitted by the present mandate holder, Manfred Nowak, who assumed the mandate on 1 December 2004, succeeding Theo van Boven. This report includes issues of special concern to the Special Rapporteur, in particular overall trends and developments with respect to issues falling within his mandate. 2. The Special Rapporteur draws attention to document E/CN.4/2005/62 containing the final version of the “Study on the situation of trade in and production of equipment which is specifically designed to inflict torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, its origin, destination and forms.” The study concluded that the obligation to prevent torture in the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment necessarily includes the enactment of measures to stop the trade in instruments that can easily be used to inflict torture and ill-treatment. 3. Document E/CN.4/2005/62/Add.1 covered the period 16 December 2003 to 30 November 2004 and contained allegations of individual cases of torture or general references to the phenomenon of torture, urgent appeals on behalf of individuals who might be at risk of torture or other forms of ill-treatment, as well as responses by Governments. The Special Rapporteur observes that from the period 1 December 2001 to 30 November 2004, out of 999 urgent appeals, the rate of response from Governments was merely 41 per cent. And 33 Governments have never responded to these appeals, including the Governments of the following States, which have received a significant number of urgent appeals: Equatorial Guinea, Honduras, Liberia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda and Yemen. Without any substantive reply (i.e. confirming or repudiating the allegations, and indicating what measures were taken), the Special Rapporteur is not in a position to assess the efficacy of his interventions. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur recalls that cooperation by States to clarify allegations constitutes an essential obligation without which he is not in a position to properly carry out his mandate. 4. Document E/CN.4/2005/62/Add.2 contained information on the state of follow-up to the recommendations resulting from previous country visits. While some Governments provided useful information, half of the countries visited by the Special Rapporteur did not respond to his request for information on implementation of his recommendations. The Governments of Cameroon, Kenya, Pakistan and Venezuela have never provided any follow-up information since the visits were carried out. The Special Rapporteur points out that a country visit is not only an important fact-finding tool; it is also an opportunity for a State to begin a long-term process of cooperation with the international community to combat and prevent torture. 5. During the period from 1 December 2004 to 31 July 2005, the Special Rapporteur sent 41 letters of allegations of torture to 30 Governments, and 133 urgent appeals on behalf of persons who might be at risk of torture or other forms of ill-treatment to 47 Governments. 3