A/HRC/34/34 7. Mandate holders also conducted several academic and working visits to, inter alia, inform their reports and studies or provide Governments or other stakeholders with technical advice. D. Communications 8. Mandate holders transmitted 526 communications in 2016 to 119 States and 23 nonState actors; 455 of these communications were sent jointly. Communications sent covered 1,282 individuals, 216 of whom were identified as female and 821 as male (245 unknown). A total of 401 replies were received in 2016, of which 291 to communications transmitted during the year, averaging a reply rate of 55 per cent, an increase of 13 per cent over 2015. Replies received varied from acknowledgements of receipt to substantive responses (see A/HRC/34/34/Add.1, chap. VI). 9. Three communications reports were issued in 2016 (A/HRC/31/79, A/HRC/32/53 and A/HRC/33/32 and Corr.1). 10. In 2016, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances transmitted 801 new cases of enforced disappearance to States, of which 389 under its urgent action procedure. The Working Group was able to clarify 206 cases. 11. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued 61 opinions in 2016. During the year, the Working Group received information regarding the release of at least 20 individuals (of which five women) as a result of its opinions in which it qualified the detention of the complainants as arbitrary. E. Media outreach and public awareness 12. Mandate holders issued 461 media products, either individually or jointly, of which 322 press releases, 97 media advisories and 42 media statements, raising awareness and voicing concerns over a range of human rights issues, including individual cases. The number of media products issued was roughly the same as in 2015. 13. The Coordination Committee of Special Procedures and the chairs of human rights treaty bodies issued an additional six press releases and public statements in which they, inter alia, expressed their concern over the financial crisis of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the attempt by some States to block retrospectively the creation of the mandate of Independent Expert designed to tackle violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and on the occasion of Human Rights Day 2016 (see A/HRC/34/34/Add.1, chap. VIII). F. Thematic reports and studies 14. Mandate holders issued 174 reports; 134 reports were submitted to the Human Rights Council, including 58 country visit reports, and 40 to the General Assembly (see A/HRC/34/34/Add.1, chap. VII). Two mandate holders, while not submitting reports to the General Assembly, still engaged in an interactive dialogue with it. 15. The Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism and the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, whose mandates were established in 2015, presented their first reports to the Human Rights Council, outlining their vision and working methods (A/HRC/31/63 and A/HRC/31/64). Visions and priority areas were also highlighted in the reports of the newly appointed Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural 4