A/HRC/38/18 women’s rights and gender equality, presented particular risks as they tended to challenge social norms, which could lead to reprisals by family, community, etc. 45. In his report to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-sixth session (A/HRC/36/31), the Secretary-General expressed his gravest concerns about acts of reprisals. He named 29 countries that had committed such acts, including members of the Human Rights Council; many countries had featured in almost every such report since 2010. He noted that some States seemed to pursue strategies to prevent people from cooperating with the United Nations, and that those acts were predominately perpetrated or condoned by State officials. Many acts of reprisals went unreported for fear of repercussions and further reprisals. The acts of reprisals identified in the report included: travel bans, asset freezing, unlawful dismissal, disbarment, surveillance, derogatory media smear campaigns, including being labelled as terrorists, judicial harassment or “persecution through prosecution”, unlawful arrests, arbitrary and prolonged detention, enforced disappearances, abduction, torture, forced psychiatric treatment, and sexual assault, including rape, in particular against individuals held in detention. According to one submission, the use of online “trolls” who harassed, discredited, bullied and threatened activists had also expanded to become sophisticated networks, sometimes government sponsored or sanctioned, that were also often highly gendered and misogynistic, targeting women and girls in particular. 39 46. Most cooperation related to information-sharing, and interacting or cooperating with organizations, bodies, processes, meetings and even training workshops, for example as part of the Security Council, the Human Rights Council, United Nations human rights mechanisms, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Permanent Forum on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the International Criminal Court. The above-mentioned report of the Secretary-General did not include possible cases of reprisals with respect to those cooperating with regional or other international organizations outside the United Nations. H. Ensuring diversity of civil society representatives 47. The contributors agreed that non-discrimination was a human right in itself and a principle that related to all rights, including participation at all levels. The relevance of hearing a variety of voices during key discussions and negotiations, also with a view to ensuring inclusivity and credibility of policy development and decision-making, was widely recognized. 48. However, civil society representation in regional and international arenas continued not to reflect the full diversity of voices. That was true in terms of underrepresentation of women, especially women and girls from groups in situations of vulnerability, reflecting the practically omnipresent gender-based discrimination. In many countries, particularly where women struggled to achieve equal access to basic human rights and autonomy, financial barriers disproportionally affected women’s organizations. Some women and girls also faced barriers based on harmful stereotypes and social norms that led to being prevented by families or communities from engaging in the public space. In some contexts, the groups most directly affected, such as children, could not voice their perspectives, including as a result of barriers or lack of access to regional and international spaces. 40 49. Furthermore, the prohibitive costs linked to participation in events in certain places, such as Geneva and New York, and restrictions on gaining entry to those events, might have the effect of disproportionally excluding representatives from the Global South, women, the poor, young people and other groups. Community-based organizations, often working to defend women’s rights, were particularly unaware of the international/regional forums and removed from funding opportunities. 39 40 See Amnesty International, “Human Rights Defenders Under Threat: A Shrinking Space for Civil Society” (London, 2017), p. 15, available at www.amnesty.org/en/documents/act30/6011/2017/en. Save the Children. 13