E/CN.4/1995/34 page 7 E/CN.4/1994/31, para. 17) he and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions sought and obtained the agreement of the Government of Colombia for such a joint visit. The report of the visit, which took place from 17 to 26 November 1994, is contained in document E/CN.4/1995/111. This is believed to be the first such visit by more than one thematic mechanism other than together with a country-specific mechanism. 9. While unnecessary overlap and duplication of work are to be avoided, there can be no avoiding the involvement of more than one mechanism in respect of the same cases, if different aspects of those cases concern the mandates of different mechanisms. Thus, in a letter of 24 May 1994, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations Office at Geneva indicated that, in respect of two cases that involved the mandates of both the Special Rapporteur and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, it would expect its reply to the Working Group also to be referred to by the Special Rapporteur. The Special Rapporteur, of course, had no difficulty with this principle, provided that the response in question addressed the issues relevant to each mandate. In a letter of 17 August 1994, he so informed the Government. 10. In addition to the joint missions referred to in paragraphs 7 and 8 above, the Special Rapporteur was invited by the Government of the Russian Federation to visit the country to consider measures concerning prisoners’ rights. The report of that mission, which took place in July 1994, is contained in addendum 1 to the present report. 11. In the two years of his mandate the Special Rapporteur has raised with a number of Governments the possibility of their extending an invitation to him to visit their countries. He is happy to report to the Commission that, in addition to the visit to Colombia, the Government of Venezuela has agreed to a visit to that country early in 1995. A number of other requests have not so far yielded firm invitations. References to these may be found in chapter II, paragraphs 86 (Cameroon), 380 (India), 401 (Indonesia) and 552 (Pakistan). 12. Within the framework of related activities of the Commission on Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur participated in the first formal meeting of special rapporteurs and other mechanisms of the special procedures of the Commission, which took place from 30 May to 1 June 1994. The report of the meeting is contained in document E/CN.4/1995/5. In his capacity as Rapporteur of the meeting he also attended the open-ended working group on the organization of the work of the Commission on Human Rights, where he introduced the report of the meeting. The Special Rapporteur was unfortunately prevented by the simultaneous timing of one of his missions from attending the Commission’s Working Group on a Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He was, however, able to make his views on certain issues available to the Group in written form (E/CN.4/1994/WG.11/WP.2). 13. Bearing in mind Commission resolution 1994/37 in which the Commission considered it desirable that the Special Rapporteur should pursue cooperation with relevant United Nations programmes, notably that on crime prevention and criminal justice, the Special Rapporteur attended the third session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice which took place in Vienna from 25 April to 6 May 1994. He supported moves aimed at more effective