A/HRC/43/52 task forces on thematic action streams and has sought a better understanding of privacy from a gender perspective. 19. The work undertaken 3 reveals the following deeply disturbing infringements of privacy related to, or arising from, an individual’s gender: (a) Gender-based breaches of privacy are a systemic form of the denial of human rights, are discriminatory in nature and frequently perpetuate unequal social, economic, cultural and political structures; (b) These harms extend beyond individuals and have an impact on society as a whole. Losses of privacy weaken the universality of human rights and corrode societies and democracy; (c) Gender and factors such as ethnicity, beliefs, culture, social origins, age, economic self-sufficiency and legal and political frameworks serve to mould experiences of privacy; (d) Privacy infringements happen in multiple, interrelated and recurring forms facilitated by digital technologies, in both private and public settings and across physical and national boundaries. Online privacy infringements reflect and extend offline privacy infringements. Digital technologies amplify their scope and intensify their impact; (e) Privacy offers protection against gender-based violence and discrimination and other harms that disproportionately affect women and intersex and gender-nonconforming individuals; (f) The actions and responses of States and non-State actors in relation to infringements of privacy based on gender were reported as ranging from weakly supportive to punitive, with a few notable exceptions; (g) Remedial actions to address gender-based breaches of privacy are needed at the international, regional and national levels. Preventive strategies that address the behaviours of individuals alone have been ineffective. 20. A robust international privacy and gender framework was identified as comprising: (a) Integration of a gender perspective and privacy into the mandates of United Nations entities, special procedures and other mechanisms of the Human Rights Council and treaty bodies; (b) Collaboration between States, companies, religious bodies, civil society, human rights institutions, professional organizations and individuals to secure the benefits of the right to privacy for all, regardless of gender; (c) Recognition that, for those vulnerable on account of their gender, the interrelationship between privacy and other rights, such as the freedoms of assembly and expression, is heightened; (d) A contemporary understanding of gender based on recognition that: (i) Cisnormativity, biological sex, sexual orientation and expression, gender identity or expression, sex characteristics and societal norms are elements of gender; (ii) Gender, for some individuals, can change throughout their lives; (iii) Gender identity is integral to personality and important to self-determination, dignity and freedom; (iv) Gender intersects with ethnicity, indigeneity, age, disability, health, migration and marital or family status, among others, to heighten the importance of human rights to dignity and quality of life; 3 4 See annex II.