A/HRC/29/37 I. Activities of the Special Rapporteur 1. The Special Rapporteur last submitted a report to the General Assembly in October 2014. In that report (A/69/265), he focused on four topics relating to the protection of the right to life, namely, the role of regional human rights systems; less lethal and unmanned weapons in law enforcement; resumptions in the application of the death penalty; and the role of statistical indicators. 2. The Special Rapporteur submitted his previous report to the Human Rights Council in June 2014. In that report (A/HRC/26/36), he discussed the protection of the right to life during law enforcement and the need to bring domestic laws on the use of lethal force by the police in line with international standards. He also called on the Council to provide the outline of a legal framework on the use of remotely piloted aircraft or armed drones and to remain engaged on the matter of autonomous weapons systems. A. Communications 3. The Special Rapporteur made observations on communications sent between 1 March 2014 and 28 February 2015, and on replies received between 1 May 2014 and 30 April 2015 (A/HRC/29/37/Add.5). B. Visits 4. From 3 to 7 November 2014, jointly with the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez, the Special Rapporteur visited the Gambia (A/HRC/29/37/Add.2). 5. Follow-up reports on missions undertaken by the Special Rapporteur to India and Turkey are contained in A/HRC/29/37/Add.3 and 4, and the mission report to Papua New Guinea is contained in A/HRC/29/37/Add.1. 6. Since the submission of his previous report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur has sent country visit requests to the Governments of Nigeria, Rwanda, Ukraine and Yemen. He thanks the Governments of the Gambia, Iraq and Yemen for their positive responses to his requests, and encourages the Governments of Egypt, Eritrea, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda and Ukraine to accept his requests for a visit. C. Press releases1 7. The press releases set out below were issued by the Special Rapporteur between March 2014 and March 2015. 8. On 6 March 2014, the Special Rapporteur issued a joint statement on allegations of excessive use of force and violence against protesters, journalists and media workers in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. 1 Press releases of the Special Rapporteur are available from www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/ Pages/NewsSearch.aspx?MID=SR_Summ_Executions. 3