A/HRC/36/60 Add.1 and 2), including reports on its country visits to Italy and the United States of America, and had engaged in a constructive dialogue with Member States. The Working Group also submitted its annual report to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session (A/71/297) and participated in an interactive dialogue with the Third Committee. 11. At its nineteenth session, the Working Group had held a closed meeting at which members reviewed the Working Group’s methods of work, prepared for its upcoming session, communications and country visits, and held meetings with various stakeholders and representatives of OHCHR. The Working Group had decided to liaise more intensively with financial and developmental institutions. 12. The Working Group had conducted country visits to Canada (17-21 October 2016) and Germany (20-27 February 2017). At the end of each visit, the Working Group released press statements.1 Reports of the visits would be submitted to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-sixth session. He thanked the Governments of Canada and Germany for their invitation and for their assistance before, during and after the visits. He also thanked the representatives of NGOs and the people of African descent with whom the Working Group met. 13. The Working Group had continued to actively promote and participate in activities to interact with civil society and assist stakeholders in the implementation of the programme of activities for the International Decade for People of African Descent. On 18 March 2016, Ahmed Reid delivered the keynote at the General Assembly on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination under the theme “Challenges and achievements of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action-15 years after”. Mr. Gumedze and Mr. Reid participated on behalf of the Working Group in a meeting on the International Decade organized by the Government of the Netherlands, held in Amsterdam on 12 December 2016. Mireille Fanon Mendes-France made statements and participated in events, using those opportunities to raise awareness and call for the implementation of the programme of activities of the International Decade. 14. The Government of Guyana had invited the Working Group to visit the country from 2 to 6 October 2017. The Government of Spain also extended an invitation to visit the country in February 2018. The Working Group expressed its appreciation to all the Governments that had cooperated with the mandate and invited it to undertake country visits. The Working Group had requested invitations to visit other countries, and emphasized the importance of confirming dates and allowing visits to be planned and to proceed on schedule. 15. During the reporting period, and in accordance with its mandate, the Working Group had sent five communications regarding allegations of human rights violations to Colombia, France, India and the United States. The communications sent and replies received were included in the joint communications reports of special procedure mandate holders submitted to the Council (A/HRC/36/66, A/HRC/35/44 and A/HRC/34/75). The Working Group urged States to seriously address human rights violations faced by people of African descent and to take effective measures to end impunity and structural racism. 16. The Working Group had issued a number of media statements during the reporting period. On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Working Group, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a joint statement urging States to act against racial profiling and incitement to racial hatred. On 8 July 2016, the Working Group condemned the killings in the United States of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana at the hands of the police, and the killing of five police officers in downtown Dallas. On 3 November, the Working Group called on development and financial institutions to increase their efforts to combat racism in implementing the programme of activities for the Decade. On 14 November, the Working Group joined a 1 4 See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20732&LangID=E and www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21233&LangID=E.