A/HRC/20/27 II. Activities A. Communications 7. A total of 140 communications were sent by the Special Rapporteur from 1 May 2011 to 30 April 2012. Observations on countries to which communications were addressed throughout the year are enclosed in an addendum of the present report (A/HRC/20/27/Add.4). B. Country visits 8. Since 1 May 2011, the Special Rapporteur sent 41 country visit requests. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Georgia for its collaboration during his first country mission from 6 to 13 February 2012 (see A/HRC/20/27/Add.2 for final conclusions and recommendations). He further thanks Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Honduras, the Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Tunisia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for extending an invitation. However, he deeply regrets that the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic did not respond to his letter dated 1 December 2011, in which he proposed dates for a mission, after the Government extended an invitation for a mission to take place “during the first months of [2012]”. C. Participation in various events 9. The Special Rapporteur took part in two regional consultations that helped him gather relevant inputs for the elaboration of the present report, organized by the Human Rights House Foundation and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and the International Service for Human Rights, respectively. From 2 to 4 February 2012, in Tbilisi, he had the opportunity to meet with representatives from civil society from, inter alia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary, Norway, Poland, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom; as well as with activists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan in cooperation with the Open Society Institute. On 13 and 14 April 2012, in Cairo, he participated in a regional consultation, which brought together human rights defenders from the Middle East and North Africa region, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and the African Commission on Human and Peoples‟ Rights Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders. 10. In terms of conferences, on 12 July 2011, the Special Rapporteur met with the Secretary General of the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. From 14 to 16 September 2011, he participated in the sixth Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders, organized by Front Line, The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. From 21 to 23 November 2011, he attended the conference „Protecting Democracy – Reclaiming Civil Society Space in Africa”, organized by the Centre for Citizens‟ Participation in the African Union, which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. On 30 November 2011, he participated in the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, held in Pusan, Republic of Korea. On 17 and 18 January 2012, in Addis Ababa, he participated in a consultation between special procedures mandate holders of the United Nations and the African Commission on Human and Peoples‟ Rights. From 26 to 28 January 2012, he participated in the 2012 Wilton Park conference, organized by the Governments of Norway and Switzerland and entitled “Peaceful protest: a cornerstone of democracy. How to address the challenges?” On 14 and 15 March 2012, he attended the 4