A/HRC/20/22 I. Introduction 1. Christof Heyns took up his functions as Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on 1 August 2010. This is his second annual report to the Human Rights Council, submitted pursuant to Council resolution 17/5. In the report, an overview is given of the Special Rapporteur‘s activities over the past year. The thematic part focuses on the protection of the right to life of journalists. II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur A. Communications 2. The present report covers communications sent by the Special Rapporteur between 16 March 2011 and 15 March 2012, and replies received between 1 May 2011 and 30 April 2012. The details of the communications and responses from Governments are included in the following communications reports of special procedures: A/HRC/18/51 and Corr.1; A/HRC/19/44 and A/HRC/20/30. 3. Observations on the communications sent and received in the reporting period are reflected in an addendum to the present report (A/HRC/20/22/Add.5). During the period under review, the Special Rapporteur sent 112 communications to 52 countries (including 65 urgent appeals and 47 allegation letters). The main issues covered in the communications were attacks or killings (48), the death penalty (20), excessive use of force (19), death threats (12), deaths in custody (5), impunity (4), armed conflict (2), and expulsion (2). The status of individuals who were the subject of concern with regard to requests for stays of execution is contained in an annex to A/HRC/20/22/Add.5. B. Visits 4. The Special Rapporteur visited India from 19 to 30 March 2012 at the invitation of the Government. A preliminary note on the mission (A/HRC/20/22/Add.4) will be submitted to the Human Rights Council. 5. The Governments of Mexico and Turkey have accepted the Special Rapporteur‘s visit requests. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Governments who have responded positively to his requests, and encourages the Governments of Eritrea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uganda to accept his pending requests for a visit. 6. Follow-up reports on missions undertaken by the previous mandate holder to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia and the United States of America are contained in documents A/HRC/20/22/Add.1, A/HRC/20/22/Add.2 and A/HRC/20/22/Add.3, respectively. Press releases1 C. 7. On 21 November 2011, the Special Rapporteur, along with several other mandate holders, issued a joint statement expressing alarm at the violence in the run-up to 1 Press releases of the Special Rapporteur are available from www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/NewsSearch.aspx?MID=SR_Summ_Executions. 3