A/62/280 B. 1. Country visits Overview 14. The second pillar of the mandate is the conducting of country visits. These in situ visits are an essential means of obtaining direct and first-hand information from relevant State authorities and from members of civil society, the academic community, as well as officials of international agencies present in the country. Its purpose is to assess the State’s respect for the right to freedom of religion or belief, including an examination of the relevant institutional, legal, judicial and administrative aspects, and to make recommendations thereon. 15. Country visits have to be conducted with the consent or at the invitation of the State concerned. The General Assembly has repeatedly urged “all Governments to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur and to respond favourably to her requests to visit their countries and to provide her with all necessary information so as to enable her to fulfil her mandate even more effectively”, most recently in Assembly resolution 61/161. The Commission on Human Rights strongly encouraged all States to extend a standing invitation to all thematic special procedures and commended those Governments that had already done so. As of July 2007, a total of 56 States, by extending standing invitations, have announced that they will always accept requests to visit from all special procedures. 16. The three holders of the mandate of Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief have so far visited the following 24 countries and reported thereon: Bulgaria (E/CN.4/1988/45, paras. 25-36), China (E/CN.4/1995/91, sect. III), Pakistan (E/CN.4/1996/95/Add.1), Islamic Republic of Iran (E/CN.4/1996/95/Add.2), Greece (A/51/542/Add.1), Sudan (A/51/542/Add.2), India (E/CN.4/1997/91/Add.1), Australia (E/CN.4/1998/6/Add.1), Germany (E/CN.4/1998/6/Add.2), United States of America (E/CN.4/1999/58/Add.1), Viet Nam (E/CN.4/1999/58/Add.2), Turkey (A/55/280/ Add.1), Bangladesh (A/55/280/Add.2), Argentina (E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.1), Algeria (E/CN.4/2003/66/Add.1), Georgia (E/CN.4/2004/63/Add.1), Romania (E/CN.4/ 2004/63/Add.2), Nigeria (E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.2), Sri Lanka (E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.3), France (E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.4), Azerbaijan (A/HRC/4/21/Add.2), Maldives (A/HRC/ 4/21/Add.3), Tajikistan and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (reports forthcoming). 17. Terms of reference for fact-finding missions by special rapporteurs were adopted by the mandate holders at their fourth annual meeting in 1997 (see E/CN.4/1998/45, appendix V). Governments are expected to guarantee freedom of movement in the whole country and freedom of inquiry, which includes confidential and unsupervised contact with witnesses and persons deprived of their liberty, considered necessary to fulfil the Special Rapporteur’s mandate. Furthermore, the terms of reference provide for “assurance by the Government that no persons, official or private individuals who have been in contact with the special rapporteur/representative in relation to the mandate will for this reason suffer threats, harassment or punishment or be subjected to judicial proceedings” (ibid.). 18. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the decisions of the Governments of Angola, India, Israel and Turkmenistan to extend an invitation to her. She looks forward to carrying out visits to these countries in 2007 and 2008. Furthermore, the Governments of Mauritania and Serbia have recently extended invitations to her mandate. The Special Rapporteur would like to thank all those Governments that 07-48490 7