E/CN.4/2006/16 page 6 follow-up may also be ensured through the regular publication of his information reports on measures taken, progress achieved and the problems remaining in efforts to counter racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. Such information may come from governments, the communities affected, the United Nations system, non-governmental human rights organizations or the Special Rapporteur’s own investigations. In this connection, in 2005 he requested information on follow-up to his visits from the authorities in Canada, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua and Trinidad and Tobago. 12. In a communication dated 9 August 2005, the Ministry of the Attorney-General of Trinidad and Tobago referred to paragraph 45 of the Special Rapporteur’s report on his mission (E/CN.4/2004/18/Add.1), from 22 to 25 July 2003. The Ministry indicated that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago had acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to its first Optional Protocol, in view of which individual complaints could be submitted to the Human Rights Committee. 13. Nevertheless, on 26 May 1998, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations in writing that Trinidad and Tobago was withdrawing from the Optional Protocol pursuant to its article 12. At the same time a new instrument of accession was deposited, including a reservation on cases involving the death penalty. Denunciation took effect on 26 August 1998, three months after notification. As a result, the Human Rights Committee was no longer competent to consider new cases relating to the death penalty. The Ministry of the Attorney-General of Trinidad and Tobago also stated that the country was not a party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 14. The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Guatemala has provided information on follow-up to the Special Rapporteur’s recommendations, following his mission to that country from 26 June to 2 July 2004. 15. In his first recommendation (see E/CN.4/2005/18/Add.2), the Special Rapporteur took the view that the Government should make a bold political gesture to demonstrate its intent to eradicate the scourge of racism. The Special Rapporteur suggested that, for example, “the President should make a solemn statement formally recognizing the existence and the social, economic and cultural consequences of these phenomena and should express the Government’s commitment to eliminating them on a democratic basis and with the participation of the indigenous peoples and people of African descent concerned” (para. 47 (a)). The Resident Coordinator was informed that public ceremonies had been held to constitute a basis for action to combat racial discrimination and racism, with the presence and participation of the President and Vice-President. The events included the announcing in April 2005 at the National Palace of Culture of a State policy for balance and life in harmony, the establishment of the Presidential Advisory Council on Indigenous Peoples and Diversity, and the establishment, in response to demands emerging from the National March against Discrimination and Racism in August 2005, of a high-level committee bringing together indigenous organizations and organizations of farmers, women, young people, widows and orphans of the armed conflict. 16. In his mission report the Special Rapporteur recommended an integrated approach to combating racism and racial discrimination through the formulation of a national programme to