A/HRC/21/44 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 10 August 2012 Original: English Human Rights Council Twenty-first session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, Virginia Dandan Summary This report is the first to be presented to the Human Rights Council by the Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, Ms. Virginia B. Dandan since she assumed her functions as mandate holder on 1 August 2011. The report provides a summary of activities undertaken by the Independent Expert in response to the requests of Human Rights Council in its resolution 18/5, including cooperation with its Advisory Committee, participation in international conferences and events, and taking into account the outcomes of major United Nations and other global summits and ministerial meetings. In the Addendum to the report, the Independent Expert presents a summary of the discussions that took place during the expert workshop on human rights and international solidarity organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Independent Expert devotes a prominent space in her report to the summary account of her first country study mission to Brazil, to indicate the value she attaches to best practices as portals to the inherent interface between the policy and practice of international solidarity and the realization of human rights. The full report of the country study mission is forthcoming and will be presented at the 24th session of the Human Rights Council in 2013. GE.12-15871