A/HRC/16/44 3. Strategies used to keep themselves safe 99. Considering the dearth of State-based resources for the protection of women defenders and those working on women’s rights or gender issues, these defenders often have to take measures for their security into their own hands. Responses have indicated that women defenders and those working on women’s rights or gender issues use support networks, including family, community and other defenders, to move away from their homes or bring their children to a safe place for a while if they think necessary. It is reported that in certain countries of the region, women defenders use shelters for abused women as safe places for themselves and their families. 100. According to the information provided, these defenders in Honduras, Malaysia, Nicaragua and other countries have used various public strategies to keep themselves safe, including public denunciation; enhancing the visibility of their work through public campaigns; bringing cases before the Public Prosecutor; establishing strategic alliances with other national international organizations and actors to share relevant information; and sending cases to Inter-American Commission for Human Rights requesting precautionary measures. 101. In some cases, women human rights defenders and those working on women’s rights or gender issues must keep their human rights activities out of the public eye so as to mitigate the risks they face. For example, in certain countries they often declare their "social or political meetings" as meetings about childcare or similar since they are more accepted in their societies as corresponding to gender role, in order to avoid some of the pressure. In other countries, they refrain from public discussion of their activities in order to avoid drawing attention to it. Often, they use their family resources to keep themselves safe, including the escort of their family members. 102. Certain NGOs at the international, regional and national levels have developed tools and programmes such as accompaniment to defenders at risk, informal security patrols, trainings, publications and the creation of local networks for the protection of these defenders, among others, with a view to increasing their protection and their capacity to protect themselves. While such initiatives are commendable and often extremely effective, they are insufficient to replace the State’s policies or programmes necessary to effectively address the security needs of this group of defenders. 103. It should be noted that the various risks and challenges outlined above to which women human rights defenders and those working on women’s rights or gender issues are exposed in attempting to carry out their legitimate and peaceful human rights activities cannot be conceived as of separate from the political, social, economic, environmental, and other systemic factors which produce and reproduce conflict, displacement, inequality, violence, patriarchal attitudes and practices which are at the root of these challenges. The security of such defenders is inherently linked to the security of their communities and can only be fully achieved in the context of a holistic approach which includes the deepening of democracy, the fight against impunity, the reduction of economic inequalities, and striving for social and environmental justice, among others. IV. Conclusions and recommendations 104. The Special Rapporteur is dismayed at the extraordinary risks that women human rights defenders and those working on women’s right or gender issues face due to their work. Most of these risks directly affect their physical integrity and that of their family members. 19