A/HRC/31/56 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted by the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues was established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2005/79, as an independent expert. It was renewed by the Human Rights Council in its resolutions 7/6 of 27 March 2008, 16/6 of 24 March 2011 and 25/5 of 28 March 2014. II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur 2. The Special Rapporteur wishes to draw the attention of the Council to the bulletin published on her website every six months, which summarizes all the activities of the mandate, including communications, press statements, public appearances, country visits and thematic reports.1 A. Country visits 3. The Special Rapporteur visited Brazil from 14 to 24 September 2015.2 Brazil is a highly diverse society with countless minority groups, who migrated there as a result of a wide range of factors, including colonialism, slavery and targeted migration policies. A large focus of the visit was the situation of Afro-Brazilians, including Quilombos and other traditional communities, who remain marginalized due to historical patterns of discrimination against them; Brazilian Roma; and religious communities of African origin, including Candomblé and Umbanda communities. B. Communications 4. The Special Rapporteur sent letters of allegation and urgent action letters to the Member States concerned based on information received from diverse sources about human rights violations perpetrated against national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. Those communications and the responses thereto are publicly available.3 C. Additional activities Events, conferences and outreach 5. On 20 March 2015, the Special Rapporteur participated in a side event on implementing linguistic minority rights, organized by the Permanent Delegation of the Council of Europe to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva. 6. On 16 June 2015, the Special Rapporteur held a side event in Geneva, in collaboration with the Council of Europe, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, on combating discrimination as a root cause of Roma marginalization. She has also established a website dedicated to the protection of Roma, 1 2 3 www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Minorities/SRMinorities/Pages/SRminorityissuesIndex.aspx. A/HRC/31/56/Add.1. www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/CommunicationsreportsSP.aspx. 3