A/HRC/34/50 Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The common use of joint communications demonstrates the high degree of intersectionality between issues concerning the right to freedom of religion or belief and those covered by other thematic mandate holders. The cooperation between the mandates also provides an insight into the nature of violations that have elicited joint responses from the special procedures. The considerable body of communications represents a potential resource for evidence of impact and for identifying the variables that are most relevant in producing specific outcomes, which in turn can lead to more effective ways of utilizing the communications tool. The Special Rapporteur hopes to increase this cooperation with other thematic mandate holders, including those focusing on women’s rights and economic, social and cultural rights. 10. Previous mandate holders have also examined the status of the enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion or belief in 36 States during the country visits conducted since 1994. Country visits provide mandate holders with a more dynamic way to engage constructively with States to address the nature of issues that prevent the realization of the right to freedom of religion or belief. The majority of country visits undertaken by mandate holders have been to countries located within the Asia-Pacific Group, followed by countries in the Western European and Others Group. The pattern of country visits is not necessarily an indication of the seriousness of the situation in a given country; rather, several other factors, such as the need to cover a diversity of settings and contexts and the willingness and the capacity of States to respond positively to requests to engage with various human rights mechanisms, may determine when and where visits are conducted. 11. The mandate holder has also convened or contributed to seminars, conferences and consultations with a range of objectives, including to map issues, promote dialogue and advance a better understanding of the challenges facing the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of religion or belief. These knowledge-exchange activities are critical for advancing regional, international and multi-stakeholder engagement aimed at increasing protection for the right to freedom of religion or belief, especially in the light of the operational approach stressed by the Special Rapporteur. B. Universal periodic review and the right to freedom of religion or belief 12. Despite the fact that the right to freedom of religion or belief intersects with a range of other rights and is integral to the improvement of other fundamental rights and freedoms, the Special Rapporteur believes it was underrepresented as an issue of concern during the first two cycles of the universal period review; of the more than 52,000 recommendations made during the first two cycles of the review, only 1,280 recommendations, or less than 2.5 per cent of the total, addressed the right to freedom of religion or belief (see table below).1 The majority of the recommendations related to discrimination, including against religious minorities and women, while less than two dozen addressed the need to reform anti-apostasy or anti-blasphemy laws. The Special Rapporteur believes the reasons for the underrepresentation of issues relating to the right to freedom of religion or belief warrants further investigation and consideration during future review cycles, especially in the light of 1 See UPR Info, Statistics on Recommendations (www.uprinfo.org/database/statistics/index_issues.php?fk_issue=18). A total of 124 States made recommendations relating to freedom of religion or belief. 5