A/HRC/7/28 page 7 shape to the mandate by adopting her own working methods consistently with the other special procedures, identified priorities and carried out her activities on that basis. She undertook 13 country visits to 12 countries, sent 2,007 communications to 120 countries and presented 34 reports, of which 21 went to the Commission on Human Rights, 7 to the General Assembly and 6 to the Human Rights Council, including the present one. 14. The underlying purpose of all the reporting activities of the Special Representative has been to fulfil her overarching protection mandate in compliance with the Declaration. In assessing the impact of the work of the Special Representative, it is essential to assess both the effectiveness of the mandate as a protection mechanism and the responsiveness of stakeholders, Governments in particular, to her recommendations. This aspect of the work of special procedures is known as follow-up and is intended to include “the full range of measures taken to encourage, facilitate and monitor the implementation of recommendations by any of the Special Procedures”.2 15. The Special Representative considers that ending her tenure with a report focusing on follow-up activities is timely, to assess the achievements of the mandate but also to provide a basis for continuity. 16. The distinctive methodological feature of follow-up activities of this mandate compared to other special procedures is the use of the Declaration as a benchmark to measure progress in the situation of human rights defenders. 17. This report provides an overview of the follow-up activities undertaken by the Special Representative and the role of stakeholders in this process and in implementing her recommendations. It takes the major features of work of the mandate, i.e. communications, country visits and thematic reports, to illustrate how each component has been followed up on. The purpose is not to give an exhaustive account of all these activities carried out by the Special Representative but to provide illustrations that give shape to a methodology to follow-up that can be replicated and strengthened. 18. This report is based on the previous work of the Special Representative. Therefore, the sources used are almost exclusively the reports of the Special Representative. In particular, this report is to be read in conjunction with her report to the sixty-second session of the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2006/95), which gave an overview of the steps taken in implementing the mandate, and her first report to the Commission (E/CN.4/2001/44), in which she focused on her mandate and methods of work. 2 Manual of the United Nations Human Rights Special Procedures, 2006 draft, para. 88.