A/HRC/26/29 the challenges facing the various groups that are often relegated to the margins of society, both in their daily lives and in the exercise of their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. He hopes to cast the spotlight on the ways in which the denial of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association leads to the marginalization of those groups and how marginalization exacerbates their inability to effectively exercise their rights. 9. The Special Rapporteur is mindful that the State is not the only perpetrator of violations relating to peaceful assembly and association. The actions of non-State actors play a significant role in denying groups most at risk the space to exercise their rights, often through prevailing patriarchal attitudes, stereotypes, assumptions and social constructions that keep those groups at the margins of society. In that respect, the Special Rapporteur also recalls that the obligations of States extend beyond respecting and fulfilling rights, to protecting rights holders from violations and abuses by others. 10. As a starting point, the Special Rapporteur acknowledges that groups most at risk share the experience of discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment. He describes those groups based on their level of marginalization in the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Some of the groups that are considered in the present report to be most at risk are persons with disabilities; youth, including children; women; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people; members of minority groups; indigenous peoples; internally displaced persons; and non-nationals, including refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers. 11. For the purposes of the report, the groups most at risk will also include groups and individuals who are targeted not because of their identity, but because they actively lobby for the rights of those most at risk of discrimination and retribution. Human rights defenders, including journalists, trade unionists and environmental activists, among others, face considerable opposition, harassment, stigmatization and even physical attacks from State and non-State actors in many countries. 12. The term “marginalized” is adopted in the present report to describe those groups, rather than the term “vulnerable”, which the Special Rapporteur considers as depicting members of such groups as helpless and passive victims of the conditions in which they find themselves. In his view, the conditions and situations that create marginalization are maintained by deliberate acts or omissions by both State and non-State actors to the continued detriment of such groups. Regardless of the causes, the improvement of the circumstances is primarily the responsibility of the State. In other words, marginalization, rather than vulnerability, more accurately captures the societal attitudes and assumptions that shape the lives of those affected by these conditions. 13. These groups should not be viewed as monolithic or discrete. Individuals can legitimately claim multiple identities, such as being a woman and a person with disability, a member of a minority group and stateless. The combinations are numerous. All these individuals can experience marginalization at multiple levels and in different ways within those categories. Often the multiple dimensions of marginalization go unrecognized and unaddressed. In order to understand the impact of discrimination on marginalized groups, it is important to recognize the different life experiences of the groups and individuals within the groups. In the present report, as far as possible, the nuances across all of the groups most at risk are taken into account. 14. The Special Rapporteur notes with deep concern the innumerable examples of violation and abuse of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association affecting groups most at risk. It will not be possible within the scope of this report to identify all of them and the ways in which such groups are specifically affected. Instead, the 5