A/HRC/43/64
which 302 (45.14 per cent reply rate) 2 were substantive replies. Some communications
received more than one reply (A/HRC/43/64/Add.1, chaps. IX and X).
9.
Three communications reports were issued in 2019 (A/HRC/40/79, A/HRC/41/56
and A/HRC/42/65). Communications sent and replies received are being made available
through a dedicated website on communications. The website provides access to all
communications sent and replies received since the nineteenth session of the Human Rights
Council. The website allows communications and associated replies from Governments and
others to be searched by mandate, country, geographic region, period and by the
communications reports submitted to different sessions of the Council since 2011. All
communications are made public after 60 days and other letters (related to draft or existing
legislation, policy or practice not deemed to be in compliance with international human
rights norms and standards) after 48 hours through the communications website. Any
government and other responses received within the 60 days are also released at the same
time.
10.
In 2019, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances transmitted
797 new alleged cases of enforced disappearance to States, of which 142 were transmitted
under its urgent action procedure. The Working Group was able to clarify 389 cases.
11.
The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued 85 opinions under its regular
communications procedure in 2019, thus maintaining the increase in the number of
opinions issued since 2017. This has been one of the measures taken by the Working Group
to address the existing backlog of cases. During 2019, the Working Group received
information indicating that at least 66 subjects of its previously adopted opinions had been
released.
E.
Media outreach and public awareness
12.
Mandate holders issued 419 media products, either individually or jointly, 309 of
which were press releases, 81 were media advisories and 29 were media statements, raising
awareness and voicing concerns regarding a range of human rights issues, including
individual cases.
F.
Thematic reports and studies
13.
In 2019, mandate holders issued 182 reports: 136 were submitted to the Human
Rights Council, including 62 country visit reports, and 46 to the General Assembly (see
A/HRC/43/64/Add.1, chap. XI, for the list of reports and the themes addressed). Two
mandate holders, while not submitting reports to the General Assembly, engaged in an
interactive dialogue with it.
14.
The Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights presented a report to mark the
tenth anniversary of the mandate and took the opportunity to suggest strategies for
advancing cultural rights during the next decade. The Special Rapporteur on violence
against women, its causes and consequences, presented a report on the 25 years of the
mandate that contained an analysis of its evolution, current challenges and the way forward.
15.
Thematic reports published in 2019 addressed a range of human rights issues, for
example the importance of public spaces for the exercise of cultural rights and the
intersectional topic of public participation and decision-making in global governance
spaces and its impact on a democratic and equitable international order.
16.
Several reports related to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
They included the report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education focusing on the
implementation of the right to education and of Goal 4 in the context of the growth of
private actors in education (A/HRC/41/37), the report of the Special Rapporteur on the right
to food focusing on the Goals as a potentially transformative tool to advance the realization
of the right to food (A/74/164) and the reports of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to
freedom of peaceful assembly and of association focusing on civil society participation in
2
4
As of 2018, the response rate includes only substantive replies.
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