A/HRC/37/66 15. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank the States that had accepted visits by previous mandate holders for their good offices and cooperation, and encourages other States, including those to which requests for visits have been made, to engage positively with the mandate. Country visits have helped in addressing fundamental issues pertaining to minorities and in creating effective communication channels to bring together the means to improve technical cooperation and respond to the need to capitalize on existing and evolving positive practices. In addition to country visits, the Special Rapporteur will ensure continuous and consistent exchanges with member States on all matters relevant to the mandate. 16. The Special Rapporteur will focus on consultations with regional mechanisms, including the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the International Organization of la Francophonie, the Council of Europe Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its High Commissioner on National Minorities, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Those consultations will help to develop focused and constructive discussions on cross-cutting regional issues affecting minorities, particularly as an increasing number of conflicts seem to be affecting minorities beyond national borders. The Special Rapporteur considers that regional cooperation has become increasingly important for the protection and promotion of the rights of minorities. 17. The Special Rapporteur will also focus some of his activities on advocacy and raising the profile of minorities in relation to a number of existing and emerging issues. In particular, he will seek to raise awareness about those issues through media interactions and to raise the visibility of the mandate through the use of available social media tools and allowing easier access to those tools by members of minorities. Particular emphasis will be given to the role of youth in using digital media to promote the rights of minorities in their respective contexts. 18. The mandate actively seeks to expose cases of violations of the rights of minorities. For this purpose, the Special Rapporteur has initiated a monthly tracking system to better follow-up on communications sent to governments, including letters of allegations and urgent appeals. The Special Rapporteur will also address all information received from civil society organizations, NGOs and members of minorities with regard to reported violations of the rights of minorities. He will make it a priority to engage with all stakeholders in that respect, in particular member States — the main duty bearers — to address urgent cases and other issues relating to long-standing discriminatory practices affecting minorities and violations of their rights. 19. Following up on the work of his predecessor who had carried out a comprehensive study of the human rights situation of Roma worldwide,4 on 21 and 22 September 2017, the Special Rapporteur convened a workshop on the situation of Roma in the Americas, in Buenos Aires. He would like to take the opportunity herewith to thank the authorities in Argentina for agreeing to host the workshop. 20. The workshop provided a platform for Roma communities from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru to interact with each other, with officials from their respective countries and with representatives from regional human rights mechanisms, including OSCE and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Roma communities shared their experiences and discussed policies put in place by the respective countries with the aim of empowering Roma communities and addressing access to adequate housing, health care and education. Representatives of Roma communities noted that, in the Americas, there was little public recognition or acceptance of Roma as a distinct minority. Roma remained largely socially and economically marginalized and few official policies or programmes existed in the region to promote and protect Roma rights. State representatives referred to the itinerant lifestyles of Roma as the key obstacle in terms of their access to social services. However, discrimination as well as lack of formal documentation were the 4 A/HRC/29/24. 5