A/HRC/29/25 I. Introduction 1. The present report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to Council resolutions 15/21 and 24/5. It covers activities carried out between 1 March 2014 and 28 February 2015 and addresses legislation and practices in the context of natural resource exploitation that violate the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. At the end of the report, the Special Rapporteur addresses recommendations to various stakeholders with a view to better promoting and protecting the rights under his mandate. 2. To prepare the present report, the Special Rapporteur convened an expert consultation in Bangkok on 15 and 16 December 2014. He also benefited from the responses of States and civil society entities to a questionnaire distributed on 17 December 2014. He regrets that he did not receive any responses from business entities. He is most grateful to all who contributed to his report with responses. In accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 15/21, he took into account relevant elements of work available within the Council and the United Nations system. 1 II. Activities A. Communications 3. The Special Rapporteur sent a total of 189 communications between 1 March 2014 and 28 February 2015. His observations on communications addressed to States and on the replies received are contained in an addendum to the present report (A/HRC/29/25/Add.3). B. Country visits 4. The Special Rapporteur visited Oman from 8 to 13 September 2014 and Kazakhstan from 19 to 27 January 2015. He thanks both Governments for their cooperation before and during the visits. During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur renewed the pending requests to Canada, Chile and India. He also made additional requests to Kenya, Nepal, the Republic of Korea and Singapore.2 He is grateful to the Government of Kenya for extending an invitation, which he hopes to honour soon. 1 2 Country situations mentioned in the present report include cases that have been the subject of previous communications sent to Governments, as well as press releases and reports issued by special procedures mandate holders and high-level United Nations officials and reports from Member States, multilateral institutions and civil society organizations. The Special Rapporteur has also made use of responses to a questionnaire sent to Member States, associations and businesses on this topic. Available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/AssemblyAssociation/Pages/RepliesNaturalResourceExploitation.aspx#sta tes. For more information on country visits, see www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/AssemblyAssociation/Pages/CountryVisits.aspx. 3