A/HRC/38/22 42. The panellists emphasized that the protection and fulfilment of human rights required cooperation with NGOs and other stakeholders on an inclusive basis. NGOs and other stakeholders should be consulted on the planning and implementation of human rights at the local level and on the monitoring and assessment of the effectiveness of local government programmes. That could possibly include the development of indicators to measure the degree of implementation of specific human rights. 43. To encourage local ownership, it was important to have democratic institutions and decision-making at the level of local government. Transparency and accountability for decisions taken by local governments were highlighted. One of the panellists mentioned that in his region, information on all public expenditures was publicly available, as was the nature of the expenditures, which were made available to the public in detail and posted on the Internet. That was important for maintaining trust with the population. It was emphasized that efforts should be made to prevent corruption and mechanisms should be in place to deal with it when it occurred. 44. The panellists also stressed the need for coherence and cooperation between local government, the central Government and other levels of government. Government departments had a tendency to work in silos and it was important to have an integrated approach so that human rights could be mainstreamed across departments at the local level, as well as at other levels of government. It was important to have a continuous and free flow of information about human rights and new human rights developments between the central Government and local governments, particularly as that information was often concentrated at the level of the central Government. The panellists added that there also needed to be more coherence and coordination at the international level, including between United Nations departments, offices and programmes, in their approach to assisting local governments to implement human rights and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. 45. The panellists noted that there remained a number of challenges to the promotion and protection of human rights in some States. For example, restrictions on the activities of NGOs in some States had created serious obstacles to their ability to be heard on policy development and decision-making at the local level. Those undue restrictions had included prohibiting registration, forbidding foreign funding or denying permits for particular activities for NGOs. More generally, restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association had seriously limited the participatory rights of NGOs and other stakeholders, and denied local government important sources of information concerning ineffective or discriminatory delivery of public services, corruption and other human rights violations. In fragile States marked by violence and degraded institutions, local governments faced serious obstacles to delivering basic public services. 46. In terms of how the Human Rights Council could stay engaged with local governments, the panellists said that the development of guiding principles on local government and human rights could be a potentially useful tool. It was suggested that local governments should have a more specific role in the universal periodic review process. It was also noted that a number of the special procedures mandate holders of the Human Rights Council had addressed human rights that were implemented by local governments and that there should be more engagement between the relevant mandate holders and local governments. The Human Rights Council Advisory Committee could also assist in following up on the recommendations set out in its report on the role of local government in the promotion and protection of human rights (A/HRC/30/49). 9