A/HRC/41/36 State actors. Such actions amount to human rights violations and may include extrajudicial execution, abduction and enforced disappearance, threats, harassment and electronic surveillance. They may also include threats against loved ones who have remained in their countries of origin or elsewhere. 70. The States of the countries where journalists, human rights defenders or dissidents have found residence or exile are under an obligation to respect their human rights, and to protect them against violence by the States of the countries from which they have escaped. Obligations to protect the rights of that community, including their right to life, should figure highly among the priorities of a State. 71. In this section of the present report, the Special Rapporteur has provided an analysis of what the obligation to protect should entail, namely: (a) The duty to protect is triggered whenever a Government knows or ought to know of a real and immediate threat or risk to an individual’s life; (b) Such an obligation to protect includes, but is not limited to, a duty to warn the individual of an imminent threat to his or her life; (c) The obligation to protect, including the duty to warn, is imposed on all government agencies and institutions, and thus includes intelligence agencies; (d) The obligation to protect is triggered regardless of the status of the citizen or alien on the territories of the State; (e) The obligation to protect, including the duty to warn, demands that the risk assessment consider whether some individuals may be particularly at risk because of their identity or activities, such as journalists or human rights defenders; (f) The obligation to protect, including the duty to warn, may be triggered extraterritorially whenever States exercise power or control over an individual’s enjoyment of the right to life. 72. The Special Rapporteur recommends that Governments review their policies and procedures to determine whether they are meeting their due diligence obligation to protect the right to life and prevent threats and violence by foreign States and non-State actors against their citizens or non-citizens on their territories. She notes that there is evidence of an increase in the number of persons seeking safety abroad, including journalists, human rights defenders or political dissidents. Anecdotal evidence also indicates that the extraterritorial use of targeted force against people perceived as “dissidents” is on the increase. She thus advises that existing policies and procedures may need updating and upgrading to meet the challenges of the changing global environment. 73. The large number of killings of human rights defenders and journalists and the associated high rate of impunity for such killings also point to the need for a stronger and more effective role for the United Nations. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity and calls on the Secretary-General to strengthen its implementation, including as part of the United Nations reform process. 74. The failure to investigate effectively, impartially, independently, in good faith and promptly constitutes a key driver for impunity. Given that investigations and prosecutions take place within States, it is at that level that the failure of the system has to be addressed.54 However, the Special Rapporteur also believes that the United Nations system has a role to play beyond that of capacity-building. She therefore suggests the following three mechanisms that could work side by side. 75. First, the Special Rapporteur recommends a comprehensive and international review of best practices regarding the investigation and assessment of, and responses to, threats, and the underlying national and international legal frameworks, including laws and jurisprudence. Such a review will seek to achieve the following outputs: (a) setting 54 See A/HRC/20/22. 15