A/71/297 Other pending visits 8. The Government of Israel invited the Working Group to visit Israel in 2015. The Working Group proposed that the visit take place from 13 to 17 December 2015; however, those dates were not confirmed by the Government of Israel. 9. The Government of Jamaica also extended an invitation for the Working Group to visit the country in 2016. The Working Group proposed that the visit take place from 11 to 15 July 2016; however, those dates were not confirmed by the Government of Jamaica. 10. The Working Group expresses its appreciation to all the Governments that have cooperated with the mandate and that have invited it to undertake country visits. The Working Group has requested undertaking visits to other countries in accordance with its mandate and emphasizes the importance of Governments cooperating with it in confirming dates and allowing visits to be planned and to proceed on schedule. C. Communications 11. During the reporting period, and in accordance with its mandate, the Working Group sent four communications to the following regarding allegations of human rights violations: Colombia, Guyana and the United States. 12. The communications sent and replies received are included in t he following joint communications reports by special procedures mandate holders submitted to the Council: A/HRC/33/32, A/HRC/32/53 and A/HRC/31/79. These periodic reports include brief summaries of allegations communicated to States or other entities, as well as hyperlinks to the texts of the communications sent and responses received. 13. The Working Group also issued a number of statements to the press during the reporting period. 14. On 13 June 2016, the Working Group issued a statement expressing alarm over the increasing number of reports that it had received on violence towards people of African descent in Colombia. The statement was also endorsed by the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. 15. On 21 April 2016, the Working Group issued a statement expressing its concern about the serious consequences of national and internationa l drug policies on people of African descent. 16. On 17 March 2016, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Working Group, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and relate d intolerance, and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a joint statement. In the statement, they emphasized that, over the 15 years since the convening of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia a nd Related Intolerance, very little progress had been made in tackling racism, Afrophobia, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. There had instead been an alarming increase in hate speech and xenophobic actions around the world. 16-13578 5/11