The Special Rapporteur is mandated to conduct official visits to States. A number of States have issued standing invitations to all Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. For other countries, the Special Rapporteur requests the Government to extend an official invitation for a country visit.
Official 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. During such visits, the Special Rapporteur meets with different stakeholders such as the State authorities, civil society organisations, national human rights institutions, human rights defenders, etc.
Since he was appointed in 2014, Michel Forst has undertaken the following official visits:
2014: Burundi
2015:
2016: Hungria, Azerbaijan, Australia
2017: Mexico
2018: Honduras, Moldova, Colombia
2019: Mongolia
Outstanding visits requested by the Special Rapporteur
- Azerbaijan
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- Bahrain
- Belarus
- China
- Cuba
- Fiji
- Jamaica
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Maldives
- Peru
- Philippines
- Saudi Arabia
- Sri Lanka
- The Russian Federation
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
