A/HRC/37/51 Unfortunately, human rights defenders have not figured enough in the discussions with respect to these instruments, nor with regard to the associated comprehensive response framework, action plans or monitoring mechanisms. Defenders are an essential demonstration of the solidarity with people on the move, as proclaimed in the New York Declaration. The invitation made in the New York Declaration to civil society, including refugee and migrant organizations, to participate in multi-stakeholder alliances to support efforts to implement the commitments being made should be taken up both by defenders of people on the move and by States and other stakeholders in the ongoing negotiations. IV. Background and hostile environment 19. The number of people on the move is increasing to record levels and shows no sign of decreasing. While people on the move bring social and economic resources and new ideas to the communities they join, they are not always welcomed. Furthermore, defenders of people on the move work in an increasingly hostile environment marked by the closing of civic space generally, and attacks and threats to human rights defenders more specifically. In such an environment, defenders of people on the move face particular challenges owing to the nature of both the issues they champion and the activities they undertake in doing so. A. Background 20. The current era has been described as the “age of migration” by a range of actors, from academic commentators to the Secretary-General. While it is true that the history of humanity is rooted in migration, the impact of people of the move on both the international community and local communities around the world has reached unprecedented levels. The displacement within and flowing out of the Syrian Arab Republic has refocused the international community’s attention on the predicament of refugees and other displaced persons, the global numbers of which are now at levels not seen since the end of the Second World War. The forcibly displaced represent, however, only a fraction of the around 250 million peopple living in a country other than the one of their birth, a number that has risen by more than 40 per cent since 2000. Migration affects all parts of the world and is increasingly witnessed inside States in all regions of the world. 21. When international migrants are combined with internal migrants (people who remain within their country of birth but live away from their region of birth), there are currently more than one billion people on the move. Some States, such as Colombia, which counted more than 7 million internally displaced persons even after the recent peace accord, face protracted situations of internal displacement. Other States, such as China, currently undergoing significant development and urbanization trends, face growing numbers of internal migrants. The number of internal migrants is also increasing, as many societies undertake their own development and urbanization. Communities that were considered deeply rooted only a few decades ago have been displaced to new locations as a result of large development projects, environmental damage and climate change. With one seventh of the world population currently on the move, the experience of migration is becoming commonplace and having a deep and lasting effect on the organization of society and culture.4 22. Unfortunately, the response to migration is not always positive. All too frequently, entrenched interests use migration as a means to reinforce their control by fomenting distrust of newcomers and xenophobic attitudes. This can increase the risk of sexual and gender-based violence faced by women people on the move (and women human rights defenders). Political leaders scapegoat people on the move and blame them for economic and social problems that are much more deep rooted. Xenophobic violence can be 4 International Organization for Migration, “Migration www.iom.sk/en/about-migration/migration-in-the-world). in the world” (available from 7