A/HRC/4/37 page 5 I. ACTIVITIES DURING THE PERIOD OF REVIEW 1. The present report is presented pursuant to Human Rights Council decision 1/102 in which the Council decided to extend exceptionally for one year the mandates and mandate-holders of all the special procedures of the Commission on Human Rights, of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. 2. The Special Representative would like to remind the Council of her report prepared for the sixty-second session of the Commission on Human Rights and presented to the Human Rights Council at its second session (E/CN.4/2006/95). This report described the development and implementation of the mandate since its creation in 2000 in Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/61. The Special Representative also brings to the attention of the Council addendum 5 to her sixth annual report, which contained a comprehensive country-by-country compilation of developments in the situation of defenders globally (E/CN.4/2006/95/Add.5). A. Communications transmitted to Governments 3. Since the establishment of the mandate in 2000 the Special Representative sent more than 1,500 communications. Altogether, these communications dealt with the cases of more than 1,137 defenders and 279 organizations working to promote and protect human rights. During the past year the Special Representative sent 372 communications to 78 countries. At the time of writing, 40 of these countries had provided her with responses to one or more of her communications. All communications sent and responses received during the period covered by this report are included in addendum 1 to the present report (A/HRC/4/37/Add.1). B. Country visits 4. The Special Representative did not carry out any official country visits during the reporting period. An official visit to Serbia was postponed as the dates conflicted with the second session of the Human Rights Council. A proposed follow-up visit to Guatemala was also postponed by the Government which declared it could not receive the Special Representative until 2008. C. Cooperation with the United Nations system and intergovernmental organizations 5. The Special Representative has continued throughout the reporting period to put emphasis on cooperation with all bodies of the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations. The Special Representative was invited to participate in conferences, round tables and seminars with several such organizations, on issues related to her mandate. She would particularly like to mention that she established contact with the Secretary of the newly established Peacebuilding Commission in order to draw attention to the role of human rights defenders in building and sustaining peace as outlined in the report she submitted to the General Assembly at its sixtieth session (A/60/339 and Corr.1). She hopes that a recognition and understanding of this role will lead to better utilization of the tremendous potential of the work of human rights defenders in the peace-building initiatives of the United Nations.