A/RES/57/230 2. Expresses its deep concern at: (a) The impact of the ongoing armed conflict on the situation of human rights and its adverse effects on the civilian population, in particular women, children and internally displaced persons, and at the continuing serious violations of human rights, fundamental freedoms and international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict; (b) The decision of the Government of the Sudan to maintain the state of emergency until the end of 2002; (c) The occurrence of restrictions on freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief and on freedom of association, assembly, opinion and expression; (d) The cases of torture and ill-treatment of civilians, extrajudicial summary or arbitrary execution, arbitrary arrest, detention without trial and corporal punishment in its cruellest forms; (e) The negative role of undisciplined southern militias, armed and supported by all parties to the conflict, which are responsible for killings, torture, kidnappings, rape, the burning of villages, the destruction of crops and the theft of livestock; (f) The forced conscription and displacement, enforced or involuntary disappearances and other acts of intimidation and harassment directed against the population; (g) The violation of the rights of women, including discrimination against women and girls, the harassment of women by security forces and the serious human rights abuses, such as killings, rape, abduction and female genital mutilation; (h) The violations of the rights of the child, including the recruitment and use of children as soldiers and the subjection of children to forced labour, in contravention of human rights and international law; (i) The extensive use of the death penalty, contrary to the obligations assumed by the Government of the Sudan under the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1 and other human rights instruments, the use of special courts, especially in Darfur, with military personnel appointed as judges and a lack of legal representation, the occurrence of group sentencing and the imposition of the death penalty on persons below 18 years of age at the time of the commission of their crime, contrary to the obligations assumed by the Government of the Sudan under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2 all of which raises serious doubts regarding the validity of the legal processes; (j) The abduction of women and children by tribal groups and other militias; (k) The numerous and repeated difficulties encountered by United Nations and humanitarian staff in carrying out their mandate in the Sudan and the conditions imposed on humanitarian organizations, in contravention of humanitarian principles, in particular the denial of access to them, which has had grave consequences for the civilian population affected by the armed conflict and led to the withdrawal of many such organizations prior to the agreement on procedures for unimpeded access of humanitarian aid; (l) The forced displacement of populations in the Sudan as a result of the armed conflict, in particular in areas surrounding the oilfields; 3