E/CN.4/2000/9 page 6 situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons. II. ACTIVITIES OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR 4. 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 submit 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 his report (A/54/426) to the Third Committee under agenda item 116 (a). Finally, in its resolution 54/156, the General Assembly requested the Special Rapporteur to submit an interim report to it at its fifty-fifth session. 5. During the period under review the Special Rapporteur undertook four missions. The report on the visit to Romania (19-29 April 1999) is contained in Addendum 3 to the present report; the report on the visit to Cameroon (12-20 May 1999) in Addendum 2; and the report on the visit to Kenya (20-29 September 1999) in Addendum 4. In accordance with Commission resolution S/4/1 of 27 September 1999 on the situation of human rights in East Timor, he also undertook a joint mission to East Timor with the Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and on violence against women, its causes and consequences. The report on the visit (A/54/660) is transmitted to the Commission in document E/CN.4/2000/115. 6. By letter dated 15 February 1998, the Government of China extended an invitation to the Special Rapporteur to visit that country, for which he is most grateful. 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. 7. In March 1999, the Special Rapporteur participated in a meeting in Istanbul which completed the drafting process of the Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, also known as the Istanbul Protocol. The conceptualization and preparation of the manual was a three-year collaborative effort between forensic doctors, physicians, psychologists, human rights monitors and lawyers representing 41 organizations or institutions from 15 countries. In August 1999, the manual was presented to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at a meeting in Geneva, at which the Special Rapporteur was present. It is intended to provide international guidelines for the assessment of individuals who allege torture and ill-treatment, for the investigation of cases of alleged torture, and for the reporting of such findings to judicial and investigative bodies. Annexed to the present report are the "Principles on the effective investigation and documentation of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment", which are included as an appendix to the Istanbul Protocol.