A/HRC/39/23 have occurred at the regional level. Although outside of the scope of the present report, mechanisms that aim to address the broader, underlying conditions, that impact decisively on the safety of journalists, including freedom of expression and opinion, human rights defenders and civic space, constitute an essential part of this international and regional system. 59. However, the safety of journalists is far from secure. Indeed, the situation continues to deteriorate alarmingly, raising legitimate questions as to the efficacy of international and regional mechanisms, or indeed mechanisms at all levels. 60. Only one contribution received for the present report commented on the effectiveness of the international and/or regional mechanisms. It focused on the need for: local and national mechanisms that are supported by international and regional frameworks that take into account the different country contexts and processes and that inform international and regional mechanisms; adequate resources to meet the ambitious nature of the United Nations Plan of Action; a visible, coherent, coordinated strategy underpinning the Plan of Action; and better coordination and information-sharing among international mechanisms, and international and regional mechanisms. 126 A preliminary assessment of effectiveness was provided in the report prepared by UNESCO in advance of the multistakeholder consultation on strengthening implementation of the Plan of Action (August 2017).127 Drawing on responses received from stakeholders, the report concluded that, to be effective going forward, the Plan of Action had to be about embedding safety as an intrinsic responsibility of all actors, and about creating sustainable institutions and processes to address the challenges. 128 It made a number of suggestions for improvements, including enhanced involvement of United Nations entities in the Plan of Action beyond UNESCO and OHCHR and better coordination, cooperation and collaboration among them (including through the United Nations focal points system), greater sharing of information and good practice, expansion of regional initiatives to new regions, greater monitoring and reporting by existing regional bodies, and sufficient resources. 61. As one of the mechanisms actively engaged on the issue of the safety of journalists, OHCHR is restricted in its ability and competence to analyse the effectiveness of other stakeholders. Such a far-reaching analysis would need to be carried out independently of the mechanisms concerned and objectively and impartially on the basis of an agreed and appropriate methodology129 that could adequately deal with the various dimensions of the issue (including both the wide range of types of mechanism that are currently being utilized in order to enhance journalistic safety and their often multiple roles and responsibilities, as well as the international, regional and national contexts in which they operate). This has been an area of academic research. Further work in this area is needed and welcomed. 62. Moreover, accurately analysing the effectiveness of international and regional mechanisms requires the systematic collection, collation and analysis of disaggregated data over time, of which there is currently a relatively limited amount. Many entities at the international and regional levels (as well as the national level) are monitoring the safety of journalists, and the Sustainable Development Goals framework will provide an important avenue by which specific data will be collected. However, this monitoring and data collection and analysis concerns attacks on journalists. While indirectly relevant to the effectiveness of international and regional mechanisms, it cannot directly be the basis of an analysis of effectiveness. 63. However, the mechanisms themselves could usefully reflect on what could be done to enhance their effectiveness, including as was done by UNESCO and OHCHR with 126 127 128 129 16 See contribution of International Media Support. See https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/report_-_multi-stakeholder_consultation.pdf. Ibid., p. 41. See www.cfom.org.uk/2017/04/how-to-build-a-methodology-to-measure-the-risk-to-journalistssafety-in-the-round. See also Sara Torsner, “Measuring journalism safety: methodological challenges”, in The Assault on Journalism: Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression, Ulla Carlsson and Reeta Pöyhtäri, eds. (Göteborg, Nordicom, 2017), pp. 129–138. Available at www.nordicom.gu.se/sites/default/files/publikationer-hela-pdf/the_assault_on_journalism.pdf.