A/63/175 I. Introduction 1. The present report is the tenth submitted to the General Assembly by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 62/148 (para. 32). It is the fourth report submitted by the present mandate holder, Manfred Nowak. The 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 A/HRC/7/3, his main report to the Human Rights Council, in which he explored the influence of international norms relating to violence against women on the definition of torture and the extent to which the definition itself can embrace gender sensitivity and discussed the specific obligations upon States which follow from this approach. According to the Special Rapporteur, the global campaign to end violence against women when viewed through the prism of the anti-torture framework can be strengthened and afforded a broader scope of prevention, protection, justice and reparation for women than currently exists. 3. Document A/HRC/7/3/Add.1 covered the period 16 December 2006 to 14 December 2007 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 continues to observe that the majority of communications are not responded to by Governments. 4. Document A/HRC/7/3/Add.2 contains a summary of the information provided by Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on implementation of recommendations of the Special Rapporteur following country visits. The Government of Mongolia has not provided any follow-up information since the visit was carried out in June 2005. Documents A/HRC/7/3/Add.3 to 7 are reports of country visits to Paraguay, Nigeria, Togo, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, respectively. II. Activities related to the mandate 5. The Special Rapporteur draws the attention of the General Assembly to the activities he has carried out pursuant to his mandate since the submission of his report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/7/3 and Add.1-7). Communications concerning human rights violations 6. During the period from 15 December 2007 to 25 July 2008, the Special Rapporteur sent 42 letters of allegations of torture to 34 Governments, and 107 urgent appeals on behalf of persons who might be at risk of torture or other forms of ill-treatment to 42 Governments. In the same period 39 responses were received. 4 08-44075