A/HRC/44/59 I. Introduction 1. Special procedures are mandated by the Human Rights Council to report to it on their activities (see Appendix). 2. In 2009, the sixteenth annual meeting of special procedures mandate holders decided that a joint communications report would be prepared (cf. A/HRC/12/47, paras 24-26), with this decision being reconfirmed by the seventeenth annual meeting of special procedures in 2010 in order to avoid duplication, rationalize documentation, allow examination of cross cutting issues and ensure that the content of communications and any follow-up would feed into the universal periodic review mechanism more effectively. Mandate holders decided that the report should contain summaries of communications and statistical information (A/HRC/15/44, para. 26-27). 3. The Outcome of the review of the work and functioning of the Human Rights Council calls on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to maintain information on special procedures in a comprehensive and easily accessible manner, and encourages the use of modern information technology to reduce the circulation of paper (A/HRC/RES/16/21, Annex, paras. 29 and 60). 4. Short summaries of all allegations communicated to the respective State or other entity are made available on the Special Procedures communications website, link to which is included in paragraph 13 of the present report. The communications sent and responses received are also accessible electronically through hyperlinks. Communications are reproduced in the language in which they were sent. Replies received in Arabic, Chinese or Russian are included with translations into English, where available. 5. This website reports all urgent appeals, and letters of allegations sent by special procedures mandate holders between 1 December 2019 and 29 February 2020 and replies received until 30 April 2020. Communications sent before 1 December 2019 are reported in previous communications reports submitted to the Council and also made available on the dedicated website https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/CommunicationsreportsSP.aspx 6. As part of this report, the special procedures communications website also includes replies received between 1 February and 30 April 2020 relating to communications sent by special procedures mandate holders before 1 December 2019. Some of these replies supplement information communicated earlier by the respective State. 7. The present report contains urgent appeals sent by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and joint urgent appeals sent by them together with other mandates. It does not contain other types of communications issued by these mandates, which are processed according to their own distinctive procedures, and are reported in the annual reports of these two working groups. 8. The names of some alleged victims have been obscured in order to protect their privacy and prevent further victimization. Names of victims are mentioned only when the individual concerned or their direct family has expressly consented or requested to have his, her or their name in the public report. In the original communications, the full names of the alleged victims were provided to the Government concerned after obtaining their appropriate consent to share. Names of alleged perpetrators have systematically been darkened in State replies to preserve the presumption of innocence. 9. In total 95 communications were sent during this reporting period to 53 countries and other non-State actors to which 44 replies were received from 29 countries and other actors as listed below: 6