A/HRC/40/53 destruction in the landmark case of The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, the first case in which destruction of cultural heritage was the charge and that was tried as a standalone war crime. The resulting brief for the Court outlines a human rights approach that can be referenced in other cases in the future.9 32. The Special Rapporteur is grateful for the invitations she has received and the cooperation of States and civil society in the conduct of country missions. She is unable to undertake here a full review of all the countries visited, but emphasizes that full implementation of her recommendations remains outstanding. In future, she hopes to conduct further assessments of the progress made. C. Work on specific cases through communications 33. One important tool for the Special Rapporteur to increase respect for cultural rights is the use of the communications procedure, under which she can raise specific cases of alleged violations. Since the creation of the mandate, 119 such communications have been sent out including 41 urgent appeals, covering the various themes explored by the mandate.10 Cases can be submitted for the Special Rapporteur’s consideration by, among others, individuals, victims, family members and civil society organizations. 34. Since cultural rights had not previously been much addressed by complaint mechanisms, the majority of the communications sent out required development of a relevant framework and language to assess situations of alleged violations. Each communication provided an opportunity to show the impact of violations of cultural rights in specific contexts. As most communications are sent jointly with other relevant special procedures mandate holders, they also represent an opportunity to increase awareness of cultural rights in the United Nations human rights system and to strengthen the indivisibility and interdependence of human rights. 35. The Special Rapporteur is particularly glad to have received responses to 76 communications (63 per cent) and considers this interaction a positive sign of the engagement of States, although she regrets the instances in which no response, or an insufficient response, has been received. Some States have repeatedly failed to reply to pressing concerns raised. 36. The number of communications issued by the mandate does not reflect the state of violations of cultural rights. Many persons whose cultural rights are being violated are unaware of the procedure. The Special Rapporteur will continue to share information about the mechanism at every opportunity and welcomes the support of all stakeholders in increasing its visibility and accessibility. 37. The Special Rapporteur also regrets that capacity limits the number of communications she is able to send. Her ability to increase the number in the future is dependent on increased support and staffing. There also need to be more possibilities for follow-up to and assessment of responses. 38. In some instances, communications sent out have contributed to raising awareness of certain problematic situations or laws and have supported the advocacy of other actors, or assisted in obtaining remedies. However, in other cases, the Special Rapporteur remains deeply concerned owing to the failure of States to take the necessary measures. In particular, she reiterates her call for the immediate release of Cheikh Ould Mohamed M’kheitir, a Mauritanian blogger who challenged the use of religious justifications for caste discrimination and whose health is reportedly deteriorating; Ashraf Fayadh, a Palestinian 9 10 8 See www.icc-cpi.int/RelatedRecords/CR2017_05022.pdf. On how to submit allegations of violations, see www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/CulturalRights/Pages/ComplaintsSubmission.aspx. Communications are available from https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/Tmsearch/TMDocuments.