A/68/295 I. Introduction 1. The present report, submitted pursuant to paragraph 41 of General Assembly resolution 67/161, is the fifteenth to have been submitted to the General Assembly by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 2. The Special Rapporteur wishes to draw attention to the reports he has submitted to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-second session (A/HRC/22/53 and Adds.1-5). II. Activities related to the mandate A. Country visits 3. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the country visit to Bahrain planned for 2013 was postponed by the Government, for a second time at very short notice. Because the Government did not provide alternative dates, the Special Rapporteur considered the postponement to be, in effect, a cancellation. Nevertheless, the Special Rapporteur continues to engage with the Government to secure dates for a visit in 2014. 4. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the invitation from the Government of Ghana to conduct a country visit during the fourth quarter of 2013 and awaits confirmation of the specific dates proposed. 5. The Special Rapporteur regrets that country visits to Guatemala and Thailand planned for 2013 have been postponed, for the second time, at the request of the respective Governments. He is engaged with the Governments to secure dates for the fourth quarter of 2014. 6. The Special Rapporteur has insisted on a request for an invitation by the Government of the United States of America to visit the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on conditions that he can accept. His request to visit United States prisons on the mainland, renewed on 15 May 2013, is still pending. 7. The Governments of Georgia and Mexico have extended invitations to visit and the Special Rapporteur is engaged with both States regarding dates. The Special Rapporteur, with support from the Anti-Torture Initiative of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of the American University in Washington, D.C., plans to conduct follow-up visits to Tajikistan and Tunisia in 2014. B. Highlights of presentations and consultations 8. On 13 February 2013, the Special Rapporteur gave a keynote speech on the theme “The United Nations and torture: dealing with the work of rehabilitation” at a symposium of the National Consortium of Torture Treatment Programs, held at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 9. On 1 March 2013, the Special Rapporteur addressed the New York City Bar Association on prolonged solitary confinement. 13-42285 3/23