A/HRC/39/53 11. Also on 5 May, the Special Rapporteur participated as a panellist in a side event on the theme “Transitional justice in Sri Lanka: will it deliver for the victims of enforced disappearances?”. 12. On 21 March 2018, the Special Rapporteur took the floor in the context of the oral briefings to the Human Rights Council by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Sri Lanka under agenda item 2. Beforehand, he held a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka. 13. On 22 March 2018, the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform organized a public discussion with the Special Rapporteur on the contribution of transitional justice to the prevention of mass atrocities, held in Geneva. III. Activities of the Special Rapporteur 14. The new mandate holder assumed his functions on 1 May 2017, and has since engaged in and held discussions with a number of Governments, civil society organizations, representatives of victims and other stakeholders. 15. The Special Rapporteur renewed requests to visit Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala and Nepal. Requests to visit Brazil, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya and Rwanda are still pending. 16. The Special Rapporteur attended the annual meeting of special procedure mandate holders held from 4 to 8 June 2018 in Geneva. In the same week, he met with the ambassadors of Guatemala, Nepal, Spain, Switzerland and Tunisia. On 4 June, he participated in the launch of the United Nations Principles to Combat Impunity: A Commentary, organized by the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. 17. From 8 to 10 May, the Special Rapporteur participated in a conference on the theme “Reparations: fifteenth anniversary of the National Compensations Programme” and the “Public forum on Genocide”, organized by Impunity Watch, in Guatemala City. 18. From 19 to 21 June, the Special Rapporteur gave an introductory statement for a panel discussion on the theme “Transitional justice and the fight to end impunity”, held during an Annual Rule of Law Meeting of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on the theme “Strengthening the rule of law and human rights for sustaining peace and fostering development,” in New York. During that period, he also met with representatives of several civil society organizations. IV. Approach of the Special Rapporteur 19. The Special Rapporteur pays tribute to the work of the previous mandate holder, Pablo de Greiff, and will build upon his call for a comprehensive approach to transitional justice, anchored in standards for the redress of gross violations of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law, and the prevention thereof. 20. In the section below, the Special Rapporteur outlines a number of aspects he deems crucial in the implementation of his mandate. 21. On the basis of the foundational work of the previous mandate holder both in relation to the elements of the mandate — truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of nonrecurrence — and the linkages of work on transitional justice with other policy interventions, in particular development, and peace and security, the Special Rapporteur intends to develop the mandate further, to respond to the challenges currently faced in the field of transitional justice and in spheres that are interconnected but that rarely coordinate with work on transitional justice. 22. The Special Rapporteur will continue to carry the mandate forward through the open dialogue previously established with all relevant actors: Member States and their relevant institutions, international and regional organizations, the treaty bodies and the special 4