A/HRC/39/28 requests rejected should be provided with the reasons and a means to appeal to a higher or different body. 104. States should refrain from unduly preventing civil society actors from obtaining accreditation with international organizations, arbitrarily withdrawing accreditation or regularly deferring examination of requests for accreditation. 105. Permanent structures for the continuous participation of civil society actors in international forums should be established, for example through the creation of civil society platforms. These structures should be created through impartial, nondiscriminatory, transparent and participatory processes, and should be particularly accessible to and inclusive of individuals and groups facing discrimination. 106. The use of innovative, cost-efficient and practical approaches, including through the use of ICTs (e.g., webcasting, videoconferencing and other online tools), should be encouraged in order to foster greater and more diverse participation of civil society actors at the international level. 107. States should facilitate the timely issuance of visas for those wishing to participate in international forums. 108. Funds should be made available to facilitate meaningful and equal participation in international forums, particularly by women human rights defenders and small, community-based civil society organizations. 109. The capacity of rights holders to participate meaningfully in international forums should be strengthened, in particular among those who are less proficient in procedures governing participation at the international level, such as grass-roots and local civil society organizations working with individuals or groups that are marginalized or discriminated against. 110. States should encourage international forums to develop and make widely available a clear and transparent set of policies and procedures on participation in order to make access more consistent and reliable. Criteria for accreditation to meetings should be objective and broad, and registration procedures should be easy to understand and accessible. 111. Participation of rights holders in meetings in international forums should include access to relevant information, such as documents, drafts for comments and websites relevant to the decision-making process, the possibility to circulate written statements and to speak at meetings, without prejudice to the ability of international forums to prioritize their business and apply their rules of procedure. Any criteria for assessing the appropriateness of materials must be made public and any objection process should be transparent and allow sufficient time for the affected civil society organization to respond. 112. States should request international forums to proactively make available information related to decision-making processes, through the use of ICTs or other appropriate means, in a timely manner and in all official languages of the international organization or forum concerned. Access-to-information policies for international organizations should be adopted through resolutions and other governance mechanisms and be in line with international human rights law. 113. The designation of information officers or contact persons in international organizations charged with facilitating the flow of information to rights holders should be encouraged. 114. States should effectively disseminate, in accessible formats and local languages, the outcomes of decisions made at international forums, including recommendations emanating from United Nations bodies and entities involved in monitoring the implementation of States’ obligations under international human rights law. 17

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents