A/HRC/28/63 they face, the means of protection, national good practices, the effectiveness of protection mechanisms and thematic analyses and any other elements required to develop their activities. 103. The Special Rapporteur is conscious of his responsibility to speak out loud and clear in support of the rights of human rights defenders against those who challenge them and to remind everyone that those who promote and defend human rights are ipso facto defenders, even if they are not members of an organization. 104. While acting in accordance with the working rules of special procedures mandate holders, the Special Rapporteur intends to make the visibility of his mandate and the work of human rights defenders a high priority, using all the means at his disposal. He intends to step up his communication activities with a view to raising awareness in the mass media, the social media and elsewhere of the importance of human rights defenders and their work. 105. He has started to publish a regular opinion column in various media and will do the same in the national and international press, either on his own or jointly with other mandate holders or regional mechanisms. 106. He wishes to use the same communication techniques to enhance his interaction with human rights defenders and to consider how best they can communicate more directly with him. I. Action against reprisals 107. At his meetings with human rights defenders, the Special Rapporteur has constantly heard reports of reprisals against those who have spoken to the United Nations, made statements, sent documents or messages, or cooperated with it. Reprisals or the threat of reprisals can take very sophisticated forms and States themselves have become aware of the power of reprisals to muzzle human rights defenders or prevent them from speaking out. 108. According to statements that he heard at his first consultations in Geneva and at regional consultations, such attacks may take a variety of forms: personal threats or threats against members of defenders’ families, smear campaigns, death threats, physical attacks, kidnapping, judicial harassment, murder and other forms of police harassment or intimidation. 109. The Special Rapporteur has been struck by the number and the gravity of the threats directed at human rights defenders who make direct contact with regional or international organizations devoted to the protection and promotion of human rights in order to inform them of a situation or to report human rights abuses or violations. 110. The Special Rapporteur has noted with concern the report of the Secretary-General on cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights (A/HRC/27/38), which is an annual report on reprisals against individuals or groups of individuals who have cooperated with the United Nations in the field of human rights, including the special procedures. This document is important for its symbolic value, even though it discusses only a small number of cases. 111. The question of reprisals was addressed a number of times at the annual meeting of special procedures mandate holders. Special rapporteurs gave first-hand accounts of reprisals against human rights defenders with whom they had worked during their visits or who had been dissuaded by the police from meeting them. The Special Rapporteur raised this question with the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the meeting and he wishes here to express publicly his recognition of the fact that the High Commissioner has referred directly in his public statements in a number of countries to cases of human rights defenders who have been threatened. 16 GE.14-25280