A/HRC/21/51 I. Introduction 1. The special rapporteurs, representatives, independent experts and chairpersons of working groups of the special procedures of the Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Council have held annual meetings since 1994. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993, underlined the importance of preserving and strengthening the system of special procedures and specified that the procedures and mechanisms should be enabled to harmonize and rationalize their work through periodic meetings. 1 2. During the annual meeting, mandate holders exchanged views with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the President of the Human Rights Council. Meetings were held with a number of stakeholders, including representatives of States, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions. Human rights mainstreaming was among the principal thematic issues discussed. II. Organization of work 3. The meeting was opened by the Chairperson of the eighteenth annual meeting and Chairperson of the Coordination Committee of special procedures, Farida Shaheed. She welcomed the recently appointed mandate holders, and expressed appreciation to the outgoing mandate holders for their contributions. 4. The participants were welcomed by the Chief of the Special Procedures Branch, who provided an update on recent developments in the special procedures system. Since the end of June 2011, four thematic mandates had been established by the Human Rights Council: the Working Group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises (replacing the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue); the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence; the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; and the Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. New country mandates were created to address the situation in Côte d’Ivoire and the Syrian Arab Republic.2 In sum, there are 46 mandates, including six five member working groups, bringing the number of mandate holders to 69. 5. In 2011, special procedures carried out 82 visits, while the number of States issuing a standing invitation for visits rose to 90, from 80 in 2010. During the past year, special procedures sent 604 communications, 75 per cent jointly, to States regarding concerns over specific individuals and situations. Unfortunately, the response rate by States remains low, at around 35 per cent. 6. Mandate holders were informed that, in 2011, the Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) adopted an internal gender policy, which included recognition of the longstanding commitment of special procedures to integrate women’s rights and equality issues into their work. In almost all its resolutions relating to mandates, the Human Rights Council requested integration of gender aspects, and many special procedures had examined how 1 2 4 A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), part II, para. 95. For the latter, the Special Rapporteur will commence his mandate when that of the commission of inquiry on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic has ended.