OHCHR | Country visits

Country visits

The Special Rapporteur is mandated to conduct official visits to States. For that purpose, 114 States have issued standing invitations to all Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. For others, the Special Rapporteur requests the Government to extend an invitation for a country visit.

Upcoming visits

Mexico (16-24 January 2017) confirmed by the Mexican Government. Call for inputs from civil society and other interested parties.

The purpose of country visits

These visits provide an opportunity to examine in detail the role and situation of human rights defenders in the country, to identify any problems and to make recommendations for how these could be resolved. By the nature of the mandate, the Special Rapporteur is required to look critically at the situation of defenders in a country. The visits are intended to provide an independent and impartial assessment which will then be of use to all actors in strengthening both the contribution of defenders to human rights and also their protection.

How long are the visits?

Visits usually take place over a period of between 7 and 14 days, with the duration often depending upon the size of the country, the nature of the visit or the complexity of the issues to be addressed.

What happens during a country visit?

The Special Rapporteur most often meets with the heads of State and of Government, with relevant Government ministers, representatives of national human rights institutions, UN agencies, the media, and human rights defenders themselves. The Special Rapporteur will usually begin a visit in the capital city and then continue with visits to other cities or towns, as well as to rural areas of particular relevance to the role and situation of human rights defenders.

What sort of issues are discussed during a visit?

Some of the issues that are raised during such visits include: violations committed against human rights defenders and the efforts by the authorities to protect them from such violations; the compatibility of domestic legislation with the Declaration on human rights defenders and international human rights law; and the strength of the ‘environment’ within which defenders conduct their human rights work, including freedoms of association and expression, access to funding; and so on.

What happens after the visit?

A few months after each country visit, the Special Rapporteur releases a report indicating, among other things, the main concerns and recommendations for action. The report is presented formally by the Special Rapporteur at the Human Rights Council.

Country visits reports

To access the reports in all the official languages, please copy the relevant document code, click on "Categorized Search", and paste it in the "Symbol Number" Field or alternatively search under "Documents"

Year	Visit	Document Symbol
2018 37th session HRC	Mission to Mexico (16-24 January 2017)	A/HRC/37/51/Add.2 Advance Edited Version
	Mission to Australia (14-18 October 2016)	A/HRC/37/51/Add.3 Advance Unedited Version
	Comments by the Government of Mexico	A/HRC/37/51/Add.4 in Spanish
2017 34th session HRC	Mission to Azerbaijan (14-22 September 2016)	End of mission statement
2016 31st session HRC	Mission to Hungary (8-16 February 2016)	End of mission statement
2016 31st session HRC	Mission to Burundi (November 2014)	A/HRC/31/55/Add.2
2014 25th session HRC	Mission to Republic of Korea	A/HRC/25/55/Add.1
2014 25th session HRC	Mission to Togo	A/HRC/25/55/Add.2
2013 22th session HRC	Mission to Honduras	A/HRC/22/47/Add.1
	Mission to Tunisia	A/HRC/22/47/Add.2
	Mission to Ireland	A/HRC/22/47/Add.3
2012 19th session HRC	Mission to India (January 2011)	A/HRC/19/55/Add.1
2011 16th session HRC	Mission to Armenia (June 2010)	A/HRC/16/44/Add.2
2010 13th session HRC	Mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (June 2009) Mission to Colombia (September 2009)	A/HRC/13/22/Add.2 A/HRC/13/22/Add.3
2009 10th session HRC	Mission to Togo (July 2008)	A/HRC/10/12/Add.2
2009 10th session HRC	Mission to Guatemala (February 2008)	A/HRC/10/12/Add.3
2008 7th session HRC	Follow up mission to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (September 2007)	A/HRC/7/28/Add.4
	Mission to the Republic of Serbia, including Kosovo (September 2007)	A/HRC/7/28/Add.3
	Mission to Indonesia (June 2007)	A/HRC/7/28/Add.2
2007 4th session HRC	Mission to Brazil (December 2005)	A/HRC/4/37/Add.2
2006 62nd session CHR	Mission to Brazil(December 2005)	E/CN.4/2006/95/Add.4
	Mission to Israel and the OPT (October 2005)	E/CN.4/2006/95/Add.3
	Mission to Nigeria(May 2005)	E/CN.4/2006/95/Add.2
2005 61st session CHR	Mission to Angola(August 2004)	E/CN.4/2005/101/Add.2
2005 61st session CHR	Mission to Turkey(October 2004)	E/CN.4/2005/101/Add.3
2004 60th session CHR	Mission to Thailand (May 2003)	E/CN.4/2004/94/Add.1
2003 59th session CHR	Mission to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (January 2003)	E/CN.4/2004/94/Add.2
2002 58th session CHR	Mission to Guatemala (May 2002)	E/CN.4/2003/104/Add.2
2001 57th session CHR	Mission to Kyrgyzstan (August 2001)	E/CN.4/2002/106/Add.1
2000 56th session CHR	Mission to Colombia (October 2001)	E/CN.4/2002/106/Add.2