A/HRC/13/22 practical measures that European Union missions could take to protect defenders at risk, such as swift assistance, issuance of temporary visas and the facilitation of temporary shelter in member States. The Special Rapporteur welcomes these very positive steps to ensure the safety of human rights defenders. 101. However, much more could be done in terms of preventing attacks against defenders and ensuring their safety. In particular, the Special Rapporteur believes that European Union missions should enhance their role in the physical protection of human rights defenders. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur urges European Union member States to provide defenders with a coordinated European response. States are to remain free to decide whether to issue visas and provide shelter on a case-by-case basis, but should try to facilitate visa issuance whenever possible. The swift assistance to be provided to defenders at risk needs to be further developed and clarified so that defenders can rely on more precise guidelines regarding the type of protective measures they can receive. 102. Furthermore, information received indicates that only a few European Union member States have developed and carried out strategies to efficiently implement the guidelines. Diplomatic staff members are not always specifically trained. Cooperation and contacts between defenders/human rights organizations and European Union representatives have not been systematized and are therefore often conducted on an ad hoc basis when a defender is already at risk. Finally, many European Union missions still have not designated a focal point on human rights defenders. 103. The Special Rapporteur believes that contact with civil society should be improved and systematized in order to ensure follow-up of their situations and develop early warning systems. Staff of European Union missions should be provided with training on the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and specific challenges faced by certain groups of defenders in their country of assignment ahead of deployment. Coordinated efforts at the central level should be envisaged to foster the dissemination of the guidelines to defenders. The Special Rapporteur also calls upon the European Union to provide technical assistance to countries in the design and implementation of protective measures for human rights defenders. (f) Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) 104. Following recommendations from the 2006 Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in 2007 established a focal point for human rights defenders and national human rights institutions. The focal point closely monitors the situation of human rights defenders, identifies issues of concern and seeks to promote and protect their interests. The focal point also aims at increasing the capacity of human rights defenders, and improving their knowledge of human rights standards, advocacy, monitoring and strategy formulation skills. (g) United Nations treaty bodies 105. Some United Nations treaty bodies also provide for interim measures, including rule 86 of the rules of procedure of the Human Rights Committee and rule 108, paragraph 1, of the rules of procedure of the Committee against Torture. Article 5 of the recently adopted Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also provides for interim measures. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will be able to request that States parties take interim measures as may be necessary in exceptional circumstances to avoid possibly irreparable damage to the victim or victims of the alleged violations, once the Optional Protocol enters into force. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur urges States to ratify or accede to the Optional Protocol. 18 GE.10-10012