A/74/160 6. The Special Rapporteur’s thematic priority in 2020 will be how to address hate speech in social media. As in the case of statelessness, hate speech in social media tends to disproportionally target minorities. B. Regional approaches to mandate 7. In his first report to the Human Rights Council, dated 16 January 2018, the Special Rapporteur indicated the possibility of a more regional approach to the Forum on Minority Issues, in order to make the Forum more accessible to minorities in different parts of the world and more receptive to regional concerns and contexts (see A/HRC/37/66, para. 64). The first steps towards implementing such an approach were undertaken in 2019, with the organization of a European regional forum, which was held at the European Parliament in Brussels, on 6 and 7 May 2019. The success of this first regional forum has created favourable momentum for continuing this regional approach, with the view to organizing two other regional forums in Bangkok and Tunis during the second half of 2019. It is hoped that four regional forums might be possible in 2020 on the Special Rapporteur’s third thematic priority of how to tackle hate speech and incitement to hatred against persons belonging to minorities through social media. For the organization and coordination of the three regional forums in 2019, the Special Rapporteur has received the support of civil society partners, such as the Tom Lantos Institute. C. Country missions 8. The Special Rapporteur undertook a country visit to Spain from 14 to 25 January 2019. He will present his report on that mission to the Human Rights Council at its forty-third session, in March 2020. D. Forum on Minority Issues 9. Information on the eleventh session of the Forum on Minority Issues, held on 29 and 30 November 2018 on the theme “Statelessness: a minority issue”, can be found in the annual report of the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council for 2019 (see A/HRC/40/64, paras. 85–98). The Special Rapporteur wishes to highlight the extremely high level of interest and participation in 2018 (more than 600 participants), as well as the more than 200 declarations and 100 written statements made during the two-day Forum. The twelfth session of the Forum will focus on education and the language rights of minorities and be held in Geneva in November 2019. E. Communications 10. In 2018, a total of 50 communications were sent to Governments and other stakeholders, compared with 45 in 2017. All of them were sent jointly with other special procedures mandate holders. Of those, 11 were urgent appeals, 26 were letters of allegation and 13 were letters commenting on and raising concerns over specific legislation, policies and practices. 11. With regard to geographic distribution, 20 of those communications were for the Asia-Pacific region, 21 for Europe and Central Asia, 5 for the Middle East and North Africa, 3 for sub-Saharan Africa and 1 for Latin America and the Caribbean. 19-11967 5/19