A/HRC/4/49 page 4 6. In the meantime, my Office has continued to service the activities of the special procedures mandate-holders through its thematic, fact-finding and legal expertise; research and analytical work, as well as administrative and logistical support. In 2006, 41 individual special procedures mechanisms were supported by my Office, with submission of over 90 reports to the Council on thematic issues, including reports covering developments in over 40 countries. Supported by staff of my Office, special procedures mandate-holders conducted 46 country visits. Enhanced information-management tools have enabled mandate-holders to pay greater attention to analysing thematic and regional trends as well as identifying protection gaps. My Office has equally sought to bridge the work and activities of special procedures with my strategic priorities in particular in the areas of country engagement, reinforced thematic expertise, partnership development, and synergies with other human rights bodies. In doing so, greater coordination and harmonization of working methods have been supported amongst mandate-holders, and coordination has been enhanced with different parts of the Office; with international and regional human rights mechanisms, in particular the Council and treaty bodies; as well as with partners in civil society. 7. Through additional human resources, my Office has supported the increasingly active Coordination Committee of Special Procedures, now in its second year of existence and re-elected at the thirteenth annual meeting of special procedures, held in June 2006. Support has notably been provided for regular consultations and joint activities of the Committee and other mandate-holders. 8. I trust that the review process currently undertaken by the Council will lead to maintaining and strengthening the special procedures system, which the former Secretary-General recently called the “crown jewel” of the human rights machinery. As noted in my report to the sixty-first session of the General Assembly, I believe that the Human Rights Council should ensure, to the fullest extent possible, universal coverage of human rights issues while focusing on those human rights situations that warrant special or urgent attention. The Council could encourage States to increase their cooperation with and follow-up to the work of special procedures, and to regularly extend to them invitations, in particular standing invitations. 9. Albeit in a transition period, the Human Rights Council has nevertheless also made significant substantive advances, including the adoption of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. However, action on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was deferred until the end of the sixty-first General Assembly session. It is worthwhile recalling that General Assembly resolution 60/251 expressly mandates the Council to make recommendations to the General Assembly for the further development of international law in the field of human rights, and this is an important aspect of the Council’s work that needs to be reinforced. In this context, my Office is very active in supporting initiatives for codification on thematic issues, such as that of the Working Group established with a view to considering options regarding the elaboration of an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 10. Moreover, in its efforts to react to human rights violations whenever and wherever they occur, the Council has in recent months held its third and fourth special sessions, respectively on the issue of the human rights violations emanating from Israeli military incursions in the