A/HRC/36/37 36. During the period under review, the Working Group also sent 19 letters of allegation and other letters to Algeria, Argentina, Bulgaria, Egypt (2), Ethiopia, the Gambia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico (2), Oman, the Philippines, Serbia, Sri Lanka and Uganda. 37. The Working Group wishes to thank those Governments that responded to its appeals and that took steps to provide it with information on the situation of the individuals concerned, especially the Governments who released such individuals. The Working Group recalls that, in paragraph 4 (f) of its resolution 5/1, Human Rights Council requested all States to cooperate and engage fully with the United Nations human rights mechanisms. B. Country visits 1. Requests for visits 38. As at 31 December 2016, the Working Group had been invited to visit Argentina, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Rwanda and the State of Palestine. 39. On 21 July 2016, the Government of the Republic of Korea suggested that the visit could take place late in November 2016. Following a number of exchanges, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations at Geneva suggested that the visit could take place in 2018, and the Working Group agreed to propose May 2018 as a possible time to conduct the visit. 40. By its note verbale of 21 November 2016, the Government of Argentina extended an invitation to the Working Group to conduct a country visit, which took place from 8 to 18 May 2017. The findings from the visit will be duly addressed in the next annual report, to be presented to the Human Rights Council in 2018. 41. The Working Group also made requests to visit Botswana (22 December 2016), Cuba (31 March 2016), the Islamic Republic of Iran (10 August 2016), Sri Lanka (22 December 2016), South Africa (22 December 2016) and the United Arab Emirates (15 November 2016). Reminders of its earlier requests were sent to Egypt (15 November 2016), Guatemala (15 November 2016), Japan (16 November 2016) and Kenya (22 December 2016). A request for a follow-up visit was sent to Turkey (15 November 2016) and a reminder for a follow-up visit was sent to Mexico (10 August 2016). 2. Responses of the Governments to the requests for the invitation for the country visits 42. On 31 March 2016, the Working Group sent a request to the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations at Geneva to conduct an official country visit to the country. The meeting between the Chair-Rapporteur and the Ambassador of Cuba took place in the framework of the seventy-fifth session of the Working Group. The reply of the Government of Cuba is still pending. 43. In a letter of 22 December 2016, the Working Group proposed to the Government of Kenya that the country visit could take place in the second half of 2017. The Government has not yet responded. 44. In a note verbale dated 23 December 2016, the Government of Sri Lanka acknowledged the receipt of the visit request and informed the Working Group that the request had been transmitted to the capital. 17

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents