A/HRC/7/28
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when stakeholders engage in the implementation of the recommendations of the Special
Representative and make the promotion and respect of the Declaration their own goal.
80. This section of the report complements previous reports of the Special Representative and
in particular her report to the Commission on Human Rights in 2006. The Special Representative
reiterates the considerations made therein as regards the role of the different stakeholders,
namely the United Nations, including OHCHR, civil society organizations, national institutions
and treaty bodies (E/CN.4/2006/95, paras. 67-82).
1. Capacity-building and outreach
81. The first step to get stakeholders engaged is to make them aware of the mandate and to
build their capacity to use it.
82. The Special Representative, like other special procedures, does not have the resources to
carry out awareness campaigns and capacity-building programmes. She nevertheless undertook
activities aimed at increasing awareness and access to the mandate. The numerous conferences,
seminars and platforms she attended across the world gave a remarkable visibility to the
mandate, established strategic collaborations and engaged defenders’ organizations, regional
mechanisms, academic institutions, Governments, national institutions, international
organizations and others with the mandate.
83. The OHCHR staff supporting the mandate act as resource persons in training sessions and
workshops to build the capacity of defenders to access and use the mandate. These training
programmes are a good opportunity to sensitize participants on the importance to follow up on
the work of the Special Representative and their role in this process. Most of these activities are
organized by OHCHR and NGOs dealing with human rights. Some, like the International
Service for Human Rights, integrated training on the mandate of the Special Representative as a
standard component of their training programmes.
84. The OHCHR factsheet on human rights defenders is a good tool to disseminate knowledge
on the Declaration and the mandate of the Special Representative. More efforts should be made
to have it translated into languages other than the official United Nations languages.
85. It would be important to develop a training manual on the Declaration and the mandate of
the Special Representative, maybe in the framework of a broader training package on special
procedures. Such a tool would make training on the mandate and special procedures an activity
that could be implemented by many organizations working on human rights capacity-building
programmes.
2. The Universal Periodic Review
86. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) can be an important opportunity to monitor the
situation of human rights defenders in countries reviewed by the Human Rights Council.
Through the UPR, all Member States will be reviewed on the basis of universal and equal
parameters and standards. These standards include, among others, the Declaration on Human
Rights Defenders.
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