A/HRC/7/28 page 20 3. Engaging stakeholders in thematic areas 72. The recommendations of thematic reports are mainly addressed to Governments, some to human rights defenders, others to national institutions, the international community, including regional organizations, and in some cases to the media. Each of these stakeholders should devise strategies aimed at implementing recommendations addressed to them and using reports as advocacy tools to give more strength and legitimacy to their claims, positions and concerns. 73. While this remains mainly within the responsibility of stakeholders, the role of the Special Representative is to encourage to the extent possible this kind of dynamics. Some ideas in that respect could be: using questionnaires to be sent to stakeholders for the preparation of thematic reports. This would make stakeholders participate more directly in the preparation of reports, hence more inclined to take ownership of the conclusions and recommendations reached; to hold consultations to gather through a participatory process suggestions on topics to be addressed; to organize expert seminars in preparation of thematic reports; to disseminate reports among stakeholders and encourage further dissemination and translation in languages other than the official United Nations languages; to undertake surveys among stakeholders to find out how reports are being used and what could be done to increase their impact. 74. All of these activities and others could enhance the impact of thematic reports. Nevertheless, they are all time-consuming and resource-intensive. A realistic assessment has to be made to identify what can be undertaken and what not. The ideas above are to be seen as a series of possible options identified by the Special Representative on the basis of her experience in the attempt to give shape to a comprehensive methodology to follow up on the work of the mandate. 4. Indicators on human rights defenders 75. Over the years, the Special Representative has been assessing the situation of human rights defenders worldwide on the basis of the rights and duties established in the Declaration. Through thematic studies, country visits, communications and their analysis, the Special Representative has given content to what compliance with the Declaration means. 76. The analytical framework and the parameters developed by the Special Representative to gauge the situation of human rights defenders can be distilled into a set of indicators that facilitate assessing compliance with the Declaration. 77. While the identification of indicators on human rights defenders deserves a thorough analysis and a larger discussion that go well beyond these few paragraphs, the Special Representative wishes to outline schematically a set of indicators that can be used to assess the situation of human rights defenders. She does this with the double purpose of providing a schematic framework for analysis distilled from the monitoring and protection work realized by the mandate, and encouraging her successor as well as other actors working on the assessment of the situation of defenders to further develop and use indicators to measure progress or setbacks in the implementation of the Declaration. Indicators are tools to follow up on the work of the mandate.