A/61/335 C. 1. Participation in various meetings and conferences Annual meeting of special procedures mandate holders and the first session of the Human Rights Council 24. The Special Rapporteur participated in the 12th annual meeting of special procedures mandate holders of the Commission on Human Rights, held from 12 to 18 June 2006 in Geneva, to coincide with the first session of the Human Rights Council. 25. The Special Rapporteur associated himself with the statement of special procedures mandate holders concerning the establishment of the Council, and with the principles and considerations guiding the examination of these mandates. In that connection, he underlined the need to preserve and guarantee the autonomy of the mandates and the central role of the participation of human rights bodies. In order to promote follow-up visits and the implementation of the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur’s reports, he also suggested that the Council, within the context of the examination of its working methods, should decide to include in its agenda, every two or three years, an item on follow-up visits, based on the reports of Governments and civil society organizations of the countries visited. He believes that the absence of institutional follow-up mechanisms is one of the greatest shortcomings of the special procedures, in that it favours the non-implementation of their recommendations. 26. In conjunction with this meeting, the Special Rapporteur participated in a number of activities, in particular those organized by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Amnesty International, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions and the International Service for Human Rights. He also met with representatives of the Governments of Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Latvia, Nicaragua and the Russian Federation. 27. The Special Rapporteur wishes to draw the General Assembly’s attention to two texts, adopted on 30 June 2006 by the Human Rights Council at its first session, with particular importance for his mandate: decision 1/107, entitled “Incitement to racial and religious hatred and the promotion of tolerance”, and resolution 1/5, entitled “Intergovernmental Working Group on the effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action”. 28. By decision 1/107, the Council, taking into account the statements made during its first session expressing deep concern over the increasing trend of defamation of religions, incitement to racial and religious hatred and its recent manifestations, decided to request the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance as well as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to report to its next session on this phenomenon, in particular its implications for article 20, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In that regard, the Special Rapporteur wishes to inform the General Assembly that the focal points of his report will be based on the following: the historical and cultural depth of racial and religious hatred, their role in the construction of national identities, their politicization and trivialization, and their intellectual justification. His report will also attempt to highlight the role of the post-September 11 ideological context of the 06-51904 11