A/HRC/21/65 Rights, Kyung-wha Kang. In her opening remarks, Ms. Rishmawi stressed that the role and contribution of women human rights defenders was fully recognized by the international community, and that the specific risks and threats faced by women human rights defenders were well documented. She highlighted that women human rights defenders were subjected to the same risks as their male counterparts but that they were subjected to additional risks and threats due to their sex and the transgression of gender norms. However, protection mechanisms for human rights defenders did not respond to the specific needs of women human rights defenders in appropriate ways. Other obstacles highlighted in the statement included persistent gender stereotypes on the role of women human rights defenders in the public and private spheres and the existence of linkages between perpetrators and those in power. Ms. Rishmawi referred to various OHCHR activities aimed at ensuring support to and, where needed, also protection for, women human rights defenders. 26. Ambassador Laura Dupuy Lasserre, President of the Human Rights Council and moderator of the panel, reiterated the importance of the role of women human rights defenders to the work of the Council. The President recalled the report on women human rights defenders submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders to the Human Rights Council in 2011, in which the Special Rapporteur emphasized that where protection mechanisms existed for human rights defenders, they often lacked a gender-specific approach (A/HRC/16/44 and Corr.1, para. 92). The President noted that the panel offered an opportunity to enhance the understanding of the risks that women human rights defenders faced in carrying out their work, and the way in which protection mechanisms should be designed to respond to those gender-specific risks. She underlined that 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 (known as the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders) provided an effective framework for the rights of human rights defenders, which must be guaranteed equally for women, and that understanding the gender dimensions of ensuring those rights was critical to guaranteeing effective protection to women human rights defenders. B. Gender aspect of violence against human rights defenders 27. The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, defined the threats and risks faced by women human rights defenders. She pointed out that both women and men human rights defenders faced the same risks but that, in addition, women were exposed to gender-specific risks, ranging from verbal abuse based on their gender to sexual violence, and that those forms of threats were particularly common in conflict situations. Ms. Sekaggya drew attention to the stigmatization of women human rights defenders, who were often perceived in their communities as challenging accepted social, cultural and religious norms as well as patriarchal systems that perpetuated harmful gender stereotypes. Globalization policies had also contributed to the targeting of women who advocated for the rights of minorities, indigenous peoples, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, and reproductive rights. She emphasized the link between militarization and an increase in sexual violence against women human rights defenders, especially in times of conflict. Ms. Sekaggya noted that the threats faced by women human rights defenders had multiple sources and stemmed primarily from social, cultural and religious norms, the effects of globalization and the militarization of society, especially in times of war. 28. In her intervention, Sunila Abeysekera, a member of the Executive Committee of the International Coalition of Women Human Rights Defenders, highlighted the ways in which women human rights defenders were targeted, as well as the root causes of those threats. Ms. Abysekera noted that the violations experienced by women human rights defenders related to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. She added that those 8