A/HRC/61/41 I. Introduction 1. The mandate of Special Rapporteur on minority issues was established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2005/79. It was subsequently extended by the Human Rights Council in successive resolutions, the most recent being resolution 52/5, by which the mandate of the Special Rapporteur was extended under the same terms as provided for in Council resolution 25/5. 2. The Special Rapporteur, Nicolas Levrat of Switzerland, was appointed by the Human Rights Council on 13 October 2023 and assumed his functions on 1 November 2023. Section II of the present thematic report provides a summary of his activities in 2025. 3. The Special Rapporteur wishes to draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to the web page devoted to the mandate on minority issues, where general information is provided on the activities associated with the mandate, including communications, press statements, public appearances, country visits and thematic reports. 1 II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur A. Country visits 4. The Special Rapporteur looks forward to continuing dialogues with Bangladesh, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritania, New Zealand, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Suriname, United Arab Emirates and Zambia, to which he has made requests to visit. He regrets that the country visit to Iraq, scheduled to take place in June 2025, was suspended. He is appreciative of the Governments of Chile, Lesotho and Somalia, which have indicated their willingness for the Special Rapporteur to conduct an official visit. 5. The Special Rapporteur on minority issues conducted an official country visit to Nepal between 4 and 13 December 2025. The country visit report is to be presented to the Human Rights Council in March 2026. At the invitation of the European Union, the Special Rapporteur’s official visit to the European Union is scheduled to occur from 19 to 28 January 2026. The report of that official visit will be presented to the Human Rights Council in March 2027. B. Communications 6. Between January and 17 December 2025, a total of 72 communications were sent by the Special Rapporteur on minority issues. Of those, 54 were letters of allegations, 8 were urgent appeals and 10 were other letters. All of the communications were sent jointly with other mandate holders of the special procedures of the Human Rights Council. Three communications concerned the sub-Saharan Africa region, 31 concerned the Asia-Pacific region, 18 concerned the North Africa and West Asia Region, 6 concerned the Americas region, 6 concerned the European region and 8 concerned other actors. C. Conferences and awareness-raising activities 7. The Special Rapporteur has engaged in several activities to promote and raise awareness of minority issues, as well as the rights of persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, by attending and participating in person or online in conferences and workshops. He also contributed to various other awareness-raising activities, such as consultations and discussions, and participated in side events to sessions of the Human Rights Council and in media interviews. 1 2 See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Minorities/SRMinorities/Pages/SRminorityissuesIndex.aspx. GE.25-20927