A/HRC/42/48 held several teleconferences with various stakeholders who could not attend the consultations. In addition, he benefited from submissions by civil society actors and Member States in response to two tailored questionnaires issued in April 2019. 5 He is grateful to everyone who took the time to engage with him and contributed to the report. 5. The purpose of the present report is not to question the legitimacy of the global governance spaces. Most civil society interlocutors indicated that they saw value in engaging with these spaces given their importance in setting the framework for the world order. Furthermore, the report is by no means an exhaustive study of these spaces; rather, its aim is to shed light on these platforms, which are less in the public eye than the United Nations but whose influence is nevertheless considerable. While the Independent Expert focuses in his report on public participation at the global level, and not at the local level, he acknowledges that some of these groupings have influence – and, indeed, approaches to participation – that are specific to the local level, a subject that could be examined in future work.6 The Independent Expert hopes that his report will provide useful observations and recommendations to all stakeholders involved in these global governance spaces, with a view to achieving a democratic and equitable international order. 6. The present report should be read in conjunction with the Independent Expert’s report on the same topic to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session, which mirrors a number of findings and expands on a number of issues, in particular the history and purposes of the global governance spaces and the importance of public outreach by these spaces to enhance public participation. II. Activities 7. In September 2018, on the margins of the thirty-ninth session of the Human Rights Council, the Independent Expert held a public meeting with civil society actors with a view to seeking feedback on his thematic priorities and discussing possible avenues of collaboration. Similar discussions were held with civil society on the margins of the seventy-third session of the General Assembly in October 2018. The Independent Expert took the opportunity while in Geneva to meet with the Chairs of the five regional groups at the Human Rights Council (Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and Western Europe), and subsequently, in November 2018, with delegates of the five United Nations regional groups. He also held a series of bilateral meetings with Member States in Geneva and New York. In addition, he had exchanges with the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and the Director of the Electoral Assistance Division at the Department of Political Affairs in New York. The Independent Expert was pleased with the renewed interest in his mandate expressed by his various interlocutors, and the stimulating discussions held around the thematic priorities that he intends to pursue during his tenure. 8. During the reporting period, the Independent Expert took part in several events, including: (a) The 2018 conference of Networking European Citizenship Education, Marseille, France (6–8 September 2018); (b) The inaugural Global Citizen Forum, organized by Drake University, Des Moines, United States of America (6–8 March 2019); (c) The fifty-seventh International Affairs Symposium on culture and human rights, organized by the Lewis and Clark College, Portland, United States (8–12 April 2019); 5 6 The questionnaires and the responses received will be made available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IntOrder/Pages/GlobalGovernanceSpaces.aspx. The Independent Expert acknowledges the good work of the International Accountability Project (https://accountabilityproject.org) and the Early Warning System (https://ews.rightsindevelopment.org) in documenting challenges around public participation in economic and financial decision-making processes at the local level. 3