Country Situations: Communications and Country Visits

Country Visits

The Special Rapporteur visits several countries each year to investigate human rights violations, identify their causes, and recommend reforms. The Commission on Human Rights has requested that Governments carefully examine the recommendations made and "report to the Special Rapporteur on the actions taken on those recommendations." In recent years, the Special Rapporteur has begun issuing follow-up reports that take into account the information provided by Governments as well as inter-governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and civil society groups.

For each country listed in the menu on the right-hand side of this window, links are provided to any visit reports and follow-up reports that have been issued by the Special Rapporteur.

The most recent visit reports are on Nigeria and Sri Lanka.

The most recent follow-up reports are on Brazil, Honduras, Jamaica, and Sudan.

Communications

The Special Rapporteur corresponds with Governments regarding allegations of human rights violations that he has received. In general, the Special Rapporteur's initial communication summarizes the allegations that he has received and requests that the Government provide information on the alleged incident and on any investigations or remedial measures that it has taken.

Last year the Special Rapporteur sent 117 communications to 55 countries and 3 other actors concerning a total of more than 800 individuals. A breakdown of the subjects of those appeals shows that they involved 373 males, 76 females, more than 350 persons of unknown sex, 56 minors, 75 members of religious, ethnic or indigenous minorities, 29 human rights defenders, 6 journalists, more than 200 persons exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression, 18 persons killed in the name of passion or of honour, 2 persons killed for various discriminatory reasons, including their sexual orientation, and 9 migrants. Roughly half of all communications sent drew a response from the Government concerned within a reasonable time period.

For each country listed in the menu on the right-hand side of this window, the record of correspondence provided contains a comprehensive account of communications sent to the Government up to 1 December 2005, along with replies received up to the end of January 2006. It also contains two additional categories of communication: (1) those sent after 1 December 2005 to which responses were received in time for inclusion, and (2) responses received to communications that were sent in earlier years.

Correspondence from earlier years is available in the PDF versions of the Special Rapporteur's reports. Note that the explanatory notes provided below apply only to the Special Rapporteur's most recent report. The summary of correspondence has taken a variety of forms over the years and explanations may be found in each year's report.

Along with fuller reproductions or summaries of correspondence, this report summarizes the correspondence regarding each communication under four headings for ease of reference:

1. Violation alleged

Violations are classified into the following categories:

• Non-respect of international standards on safeguards and restrictions relating to the imposition of capital punishment
• Death threats and fear of imminent extrajudicial executions by State officials, paramilitary groups, or groups cooperating with or tolerated by the Government, as well as unidentified persons who may be linked to the categories mentioned above and when the Government is failing to take appropriate protection measures
• Deaths in custody owing to torture, neglect, or the use of force, or fear of death in custody due to life-threatening conditions of detention
• Deaths due to the use of force by law enforcement officials or persons acting in direct or indirect compliance with the State, when the use of force is inconsistent with the criteria of absolute necessity and proportionality
• Deaths due to the attacks or killings by security forces of the State, or by paramilitary groups, death squads, or other private forces cooperating with or tolerated by the State
• Violations of the right to life during armed conflicts, especially of the civilian population and other non-combatants, contrary to international humanitarian law
• Expulsion, refoulement, or return of persons to a country or a place where their lives are in danger
• Impunity, compensation and the rights of victims

2. Subject(s) of appeal

The subjects of communications are classified in accordance with paragraph 6 of Commission of Human Rights resolution 2004/37.

3. Character of reply

The replies received have been classified according to the following five categories designed to assist the Commission in its task of evaluating the effectiveness of the mandate:

1. "Largely satisfactory response" denotes a reply that is responsive to the allegations and that substantially clarifies the facts. It does not, however, imply that the action taken necessarily complies with international human rights law.
2. "Cooperative but incomplete response" denotes a reply that provides some clarification of the allegations but that contains limited factual substantiation or that fails to address some issues.
3. "Allegations rejected but without adequate substantiation" denotes a reply denying the allegations but which is not supported by documentation or analysis that can be considered satisfactory under the circumstances.
4. "Receipt acknowledged" denotes a reply acknowledging that the communication was received but without providing any substantive information.
5. "No response".

There are two minor, additional characterizations: (i) Where a responses has been received but has not yet been translated by the United Nations, the response is characterized simply as "UN translation awaited". (ii) Where a response has not been received from the Government but less than 90 days has elapsed since the communication was sent, that fact is indicated by characterizing the response as: "No response (recent communication)".

4. Observations of the Special Rapporteur

This report contains brief comments by the Special Rapporteur on the extent to which he considers each reply to have responded adequately to the concerns arising under the mandate. An indication is also provided in instances in which additional information is required to respond effectively to the information received.