A/HRC/31/62 mechanism recognized by law ensuring that organizations of persons with disabilities can register as legal entities, participate and be consulted. 28 40. Organizations of persons with disabilities often face major challenges in acquiring legal status, because registration procedures are inaccessible, expensive and bureaucratic. This constitutes an obstacle to obtaining legal personality and external funding and to qualifying for tax benefits. Moreover, regulations in many countries require that organizations of persons with disabilities belong to both a mainstream and a disabilityspecific register to acquire the necessary formal status. Consequently, numerous organizations representing persons with disabilities remain unregistered. States must implement registration systems that are simple, flexible, expeditious, fully accessible, nononerous and/or even free of charge,29 to facilitate the registration of organizations of persons with disabilities. 41. The promotion of an enabling environment for organizations of persons with disabilities to flourish remains a challenge in many countries. This demands not only a strategic response, but also a shared responsibility between a broader range of stakeholders that includes Governments, national human rights institutions, international cooperation agencies and the private sector. 3. Independence and autonomy 42. States have an obligation not to unduly obstruct the exercise of the right to freedom of association in law or in practice.30 In that regard, representative organizations of persons with disabilities have the right to operate free from State interference in their affairs; their members should be free to determine their statutes, structure and activities and to make decisions without State intrusion.31 States must therefore refrain from interfering in the decisions and activities of these organizations, and adopt all necessary measures, including legislative measures, to limit the ability of national, regional and local authorities to hinder their operations, such as by reviewing registration and funding requirements. 43. Globally, CSOs and human rights defenders are increasingly facing State restrictions on their operations.32 In some countries, they are subject to reprisals by the State, in the form of restrictions, censorship, budget cuts, intimidation and baseless criminal charges. The Special Rapporteur has been informed of threats against organizations of persons with disabilities aimed at restricting their operations after they had advocated for their rights at the international level and denounced obstacles to registering and obtaining external funding. In such environments, persons with disabilities cannot fully exercise their right to public participation. 44. It is of concern that, in some countries, representative organizations of persons with disabilities that are truly independent lack a real space for operation and participation, whereas government-sponsored organizations can operate freely. States must refrain from requiring a legal entity to be established or an organization for persons with disabilities to be registered as a precondition to the exercise of freedom of association.33 45. States often justify and legitimize their interventions into an organization’s functioning by claiming the need to enhance accountability and transparency, or to 28 29 30 31 32 33 12 See CRPD/C/QAT/CO/1, para. 10. See A/70/266, para. 26. See A/HRC/20/27, para. 64. Ibid. See A/HRC/26/29 and A/70/217. See A/HRC/20/27, para. 56.