A/HRC/40/60 Special Rapporteur calls on all stakeholders to work together to ensure that women defenders are supported and strengthened to promote and protect human rights. Recommendations 108. The Special Rapporteur recommends that Member States: (a) Protect the rights of women defenders, including by taking a public stand against all State and non-State actors who violate these rights, ceasing all attacks and threats against women defenders and investigating all that occur, ensuring that impunity does not prevail; (b) Ensure that women defenders enjoy a safe and enabling environment to exercise their rights, considering their specific and diverse needs. This includes addressing systemic and structural discrimination and violence that women defenders experience and enacting laws that recognize and protect the rights of all human rights defenders, with a specific focus on the needs of women defenders; (c) Ensure that non-State actors – including businesses, faith-based groups, the media and communities – meet their legal obligations to respect human rights. The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are key for business enterprises; (d) Prioritize the protection of women defenders in online spaces and adopt laws, policies and practices that protect their right to privacy and protect them from libel and hate speech; (e) Dedicate part of their budget to strengthening the participation of women in human rights activities, ensuring that they are supported to respond meaningfully to issues in a sustainable manner; (f) Refrain from interfering with funding provided to women for human rights work and ensure that legal and administrative frameworks do not restrict access to funding for human rights activism; (g) Address barriers to the participation of women defenders in public life, including in regional and international human rights forums, such as travel bans, visa restrictions and their lack of identity or travel documents and resources; (h) Assess protection practices for women defenders against the seven principles underpinning good protection practices and examine ways of strengthening those practices. 109. The Special Rapporteur recommends that intergovernmental organizations and regional bodies: multilateral institutions, (a) Identify ways in which the right to promote and protect human rights and women’s rights are being opposed and take measures to counter regression; (b) Ensure that women defenders who engage with multilateral institutions and international and regional human rights bodies can do so without fear of persecution or violence and that any allegations or instances of reprisals are promptly investigated; (c) Recognize the initiatives, strategies and networks created by women defenders themselves and ensure that they are adequately resourced; (d) Strengthen and support women’s leadership and feminist, communitycentred approaches to protection; (e) Renew efforts to ensure the security, protection and well-being of women human rights defenders, while respecting confidentiality, the need for informed consent and the principle “do no harm”; (f) Ensure that there is effective follow-up, implementation and accountability for recommendations to Member States concerning the security and protection of women defenders. 19