A/HRC/43/51/Add.3 the United Nations in Geneva for transmission to capitals. The letters provide details of the victim, the human rights concerns and the alleged events. 7. “Urgent appeal” letters are used to communicate information on a violation that is allegedly ongoing or about to occur. The intention of these letters is to ensure that the appropriate State authorities are informed as quickly as possible of the relevant circumstances so that they can intervene to end or prevent violations. For example, a death threat that is reportedly made against a human rights lawyer in response to the lawyer’s human rights work would be addressed through an Urgent appeal letter. 8. “Allegation” letters are used to communicate information on violations that are thought to have already occurred and for which the impact on the defender affected can no longer be changed. These kinds of letters are used, for example, in instances where information only reaches the Special Rapporteur long after the events have occurred or where the human rights abuse has already been committed and reached a conclusion. For example, where a defender has been killed this would be raised with States through an allegation letter. Allegations that cover several human rights issues 9. The Special Rapporteur constantly consults with Special Rapporteurs whose own mandates are implicated in a particular case and frequently sends joint letters of concern with these mandate holders. What is the objective of the Special Rapporteur’s intervention? 10. The primary objective of these letters is to protect human rights defenders by ensuring that State authorities are informed of allegations as early as possible and that they have an opportunity to investigate them and to end or prevent any human rights violation. With both Urgent appeals and Allegation letters, the Special Rapporteur requests the Government to take all appropriate action to investigate and address the alleged events and to communicate the results of its investigation and actions to the Special Rapporteur. Allegation letters focus primarily on asking the State authorities to proceed with an investigation of the events and to conduct criminal prosecutions of those responsible. How much time does the process take? 11. The Special Rapporteur and assisting OHCHR staff try to react as quickly as possible to allegations, with special attention given to the most serious and urgent cases. In many instances, a case is taken up by the Special Rapporteur with the concerned Government within a few hours of the information being received from the source. In instances, where insufficient information is available in the initial contact it can take several days to gather and clarify sufficient information for contact to be made with a government. What happens next? 12. Ideally, the Government will react immediately to the Special Rapporteur’s letter and investigate the alleged facts, taking action to prevent or end any violation. Governments are urged, under the Human Rights Council resolution renewing the Special Rapporteur’s mandate, to respond to the letters sent. In many instances, responses are not received, are received several months later or do not address the substantive concerns raised by the Special Rapporteur. 13. If the Special Rapporteur does not receive a rapid response from a Government, particularly with regard to an urgent and very serious case, then additional efforts are made to follow-up with the Government concerned, via contact with its representation at the United Nations in Geneva. Resource limitations make it impossible for the Special Rapporteur to follow-up on every case. A/HRC/40/60/Add.1 Who can submit information, and how? 14. Any individual, group, civil-society organisation, inter-governmental entity or national human rights body can submit information to the Special Procedures. The submission form is available on the following webpage https://spsubmission.ohchr.org. 106