A/HRC/46/26 3. Statistical and substantive evaluation 88. A historical analysis of cooperation by States with mandate holders confirms a longstanding hesitancy or reluctance to invite or allow official visits by the Special Rapporteur. Previous mandate holders regularly reported on pending requests for a country visit they had submitted to States without obtaining any response, or voiced concern about the failure of States to agree to the terms of reference of the mandate for official country visits, which resulted in the cancellation or indefinite postponement of the envisaged visits.26 By the end of the tenure of the previous mandate holder, 31 requests for a country visit were pending.27 89. During the first four years of his tenure, the Special Rapporteur has transmitted requests for country visits to 58 Governments, of which 32 have issued a standing invitation.28 During the same period, the mandate has been proactively invited (i.e., without a request by the mandate holder) by only one State (Burkina Faso). (a) No cooperation 90. Of the 58 Governments that received requests for a country visit, 33 (57 per cent) never provided any response whatsoever (not even acknowledgement of receipt), including 15 States that had issued a standing invitation to the special procedures(Burundi, Ecuador, Honduras, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Romania, Rwanda, South Africa and Turkmenistan ). One or several follow-up letters were sent to 26 of the said States (seven of which had issued standing invitations: Guatemala, India, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, South Africa and Thailand), but failed to elicit any reaction from the Government concerned. (b) Partial cooperation 91. Of the 58 Governments that received visit requests, 13 (23 per cent) showed “partial cooperation” with the mandate holder, including five States that had issued a standing invitation to the special procedures (Guatemala, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Lebanon, Malaysia and Thailand). In other words, the Government responded to a request for a visit transmitted by the mandate holder but, for reasons beyond the control of the Special Rapporteur, did not issue a firm invitation to conduct an official visit, owing to scheduling difficulties for the Government or the Government’s disagreement with the official terms of reference for country visits. Some Governments proactively maintain a dialogue with the Special Rapporteur, particularly through yearly meetings on the margins of Human Rights Council sessions; despite repeated requests for a country visit and numerous allegations of torture and ill-treatment, however, they consistently fail to allow the Special Rapporteur to conduct an official visit to their country. (c) Full cooperation 92. Of the 58 Governments that received a request for a country visit during the period under review, only 12 (20 per cent), including 11 that had issued a standing invitation, showed “full cooperation” with the mandate holder in that they hosted an official country visit (Argentina, Maldives, Serbia and Kosovo,29 Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) or extended a firm invitation (Libya, Mongolia, Paraguay and Spain)to the Special Rapporteur, which but the Special Rapporteur declined or postponed the envisaged country visit for reasons relating to regional distribution or 26 See for example A/HRC/13/39, para. 6 and A/HRC/19/61, para. 6. See http://antitorture.org/recent-country-visits/. 28 Standing invitations have been extended by Argentina, Burundi, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Paraguay, Romania, Rwanda, Serbia / Kosovo, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uzbekistan. Other: Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, China, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Israel, Mali, Namibia, Philippines, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Zimbabwe. 29 Reference to Kosovo should be understood in full compliance with Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo. 27 17