A/63/263 a London seminar organized by the Society of Legal Scholars. At the end of April, he travelled to New York, where he had a series of meetings. He met with Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative to discuss the draft “Human Rights Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Companies in relation to Access to Medicines”, as well as the work of the GAVI Alliance. While in New York, the Special Rapporteur spoke at a meeting organized by the People’s Health Movement (United States of America). In May 2008, he delivered the opening address in Barcelona at the 19th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm, organized by the International Harm Reduction Association. The Association has now published his presentation which is entitled “Human rights, health and harm reduction: States’ amnesia and parallel universes” (see www.ihra.net). The Special Rapporteur also delivered a keynote address at the 2nd Conference on Migrant Health in Europe, held in Malmo, Sweden, on 23 and 24 May 2008 5. Reports relating to the Special Rapporteur’s missions to Ecuador/Colombia and India, and as well as GlaxoSmithKline will be submitted to the Human Rights Council in 2009. 6. In the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur sent a number of urgent appeals and other communications to various Governments. The communications will be reflected in the communications report that will be submitted to the Human Rights Council in 2009. 7. All United Nations documents related to the work of the Special Rapporteur, including press statements and reports to the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights/Human Rights Council, are available on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (www.ohchr.org). For ease of reference, all the Special Rapporteur’s official reports and press statements, as well as selected conference papers, presentations and interviews, can be found on the website of the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex (www2.essex.ac.uk/ human_rights_centre/rth.shtm). III. Accountability 8. Accountability is one of the central features of human rights. Without accountability, human rights can become no more than window-dressing. Whether human rights are applied to development, poverty reduction, trade, health systems, neglected diseases, maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS or anything else, they require that accessible, transparent and effective mechanisms of accountability be established. 9. Accountability provides individuals and communities with an opportunity to understand how those with human rights responsibilities have discharged their duties. Equally, it provides those with human rights responsibilities the opportunity to explain what they have done and why. Where mistakes have been made, accountability requires redress. But accountability is not a matter of blame and punishment. Sometimes called constructive accountability, it is a process that helps to identify what works, so that it can be repeated, and what does not, so that it can be revised. It is a way of checking that reasonable balances are fairly struck. 10. Although human rights demand accountability, that does not mean that everybody working in health and human rights — all health professionals, all specialized agencies — have the task of holding duty-bearers to account. The health 4 08-45647