A/HRC/11/6 page 5 response and reiterated my interest in continuing my collaboration with all relevant stakeholders on this issue, and in providing support to the United Nations Statistical Commission, which the General Assembly mandated to develop indicators on violence against women. C. Regional consultations 6. As in previous years, I attended regional consultations with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). I am pleased to report that three such consultations were held in 2008. 7. From 17 to 19 September 2008, I attended the “Non-Governmental East European and Central Asian Regional Consultation”, which was held in St. Petersburg. From 15-16 October 2008, I attended a regional consultation with NGOs from the Asia-Pacific region, in New Delhi, India, which was held jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, and focused on violence against indigenous women in Asia and the Pacific region. 8. From 5 to 6 December 2008, I attended the “Regional Consultations on Violence against Women in the Context of Conflict in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa Region”, which were held jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and took place in Nairobi. D. Other meetings 9. Throughout 2008, and during the first quarter of 2009, I participated in numerous events in my capacity as Special Rapporteur, some of which are listed below. 10. From 21 to 26 January 2008, I attended meetings and consultations on the fight against impunity and justice for women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, held in Montreal and in New York; from 27 February to 1 March 2008, the fifty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York and a number of events organized by Governments, United Nations entities and NGOs. On 27 and 28 March 2008, I participated in the annual board meeting of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development in Geneva. From 6 to 8 May 2008, I convened an expert consultation in Istanbul, in conjunction with my thematic report on political economy of women’s human rights (referred hereafter as “expert consultation”), which was made possible with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and Bilgi University. I also attended from 4 to 6 August the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) forum on women’s empowerment and the meeting of Women’s Empowerment in the Muslim Context Consortium advisory group (WEMC-CAG), in Bangkok; from 7 to 11 September 2008, a panel on sexual violence in conflict zones, in Cologne; and on 12 September 2008, a conference organized in Stockholm by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) on gender-based violence. 11. On 5 and 6 November 2008, I held a series of meetings with key Catalan authorities and organizations in Barcelona, and made a presentation at the Human Rights Forum on Gender and International Relations, on advances in international legislation on violence against women (VAW) since the Beijing Conference; on 19 November 2008, a keynote speech at a conference