A/HRC/40/60 rights continue to be challenged by those who believe that women do not have these rights or that they should fight for them only in limited, circumscribed ways. 7. In the current political climate, in which there is a backlash against human rights, women defenders are often the first to come under attack. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur calls on the international community to recognize the specific issues, challenges and risks that women defenders face in diverse circumstances and to ensure that such defenders are recognized and supported and enabled to participate equally, meaningfully and powerfully in the promotion and protection of human rights. II. Methodology 8. The present report is based on numerous discussions that the Special Rapporteur has had with women human rights defenders around the world since the beginning of his mandate. The Special Rapporteur considers the security and protection of women human rights defenders to be a core aspect of his work and, wherever possible, has sought opportunities to meet and hear directly from them on official country visits and academic visits. The report draws on these discussions and on consultations held with women human rights defenders for the preparation of the present report in New York, Beirut, Geneva and Bali (Indonesia). 9. The report also draws on 181 communications concerning women human rights defenders sent to 60 States by the Special Rapporteur between 2 July 2014 and 2 October 2018. In those communications, the Special Rapporteur highlighted concerns about: the inclusion of women human rights defenders on a list of terrorists; death threats and harassment; defamation; smear campaigns; raids; deportation proceedings; interrogation; travel bans; asset freezes; surveillance; arrests and judicial harassment; detention, including incommunicado; mistreatment and denial of health care in detention; criminalization; attempted killings; killings; and disappearances. 10. Finally, it also draws on over 200 responses to the Special Rapporteur’s survey, which were collected with the help of the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The aim of the survey was to gather information on women human rights defenders from States, national human rights institutions, civil society organisations, human rights defenders and other stakeholders. The respondents expressed concern about the situation of women human rights defenders at risk around the world and called for their recognition, security and protection. III. Definition and normative framework A. Definition 11. As women human rights defenders have observed, women are attacked for promoting and protecting human rights because of their identity and because of what they do. 2 Many women exercise rights described in the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Declaration on Human Rights Defenders) without identifying as women human rights defenders. Some women are unfamiliar with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders or the term “human rights defenders”. Some, for their own safety, deliberately avoid referring to their actions as being related to human rights. Some frame their work in different ways to access much-needed funding and support. Many women are engaged in the defence of human rights on a voluntary basis, outside professional or employment-related roles. 2 Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition, Global Report on the Situation of Women Human Rights Defenders (2012); A/HRC/16/44 and Corr.1. 3