A/HRC/45/42 102. National human rights institutions were invited to participate at all stages of the Peoples’ Summit on Climate, Rights and Human Survival in New York, in September 2019; the Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva, in November 2019; and the twenty-fifth United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid, in December 2019. 8 103. With continued support from OHCHR, national human rights institutions also participated in the work of the Working Group on Ageing of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, with a view to promoting and protecting the rights and dignity of older persons, as part of the mandate of the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing established by the General Assembly. In particular, OHCHR supported two major intersessional conferences, including the Asia-Europe Meeting Global Conference on Global Ageing and Human Rights of Older Persons, convened by the Human Rights Commission of Korea in Seoul, in October 2019; and the African Regional High-level Conference on the Human Rights Situation of Older Persons in Africa, convened by the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria, and other relevant stakeholders, in Abuja, in November 2019. VI. Cases of reprisal or intimidation against A status national human rights institutions 104. Both the General Assembly, in its resolution 74/156, and the Human Rights Council, in its resolution 39/17, recognized the important role that national human rights institutions played in preventing and addressing cases of reprisal as part of supporting the cooperation between States and the United Nations, and encouraged all relevant United Nations mechanisms and processes to further enhance the participation and contribution of national human rights institutions compliant with the Paris Principles. 105. The Human Rights Council and the General Assembly also stressed that national human rights institutions, and their members and staff, should not face any form of reprisal or intimidation, including political pressure, physical intimidation, harassment or unjustifiable budgetary limitations, as a result of activities undertaken in accordance with their mandates, including when taking up individual cases or when reporting on serious or systematic violations. They also called upon States to promptly and thoroughly investigate cases of alleged reprisal or intimidation against members or staff of national human rights institutions or against individuals who cooperated or sought to cooperate with them, and to bring perpetrators to justice. 106. Since A status national human rights institutions are more visible before the international human rights system, they are at higher risk of reprisals and other acts of intimidation, including in relation to their cooperation with United Nations mechanisms and processes.9 107. During the reporting period, the Office of the Human Rights Advocate of Guatemala was subjected to financial budget cuts and was the target of threats, particularly with respect to its support for the continuation of the mandate of the United Nations International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala and its work in combating corruption and impunity. 108. In June 2019, various media channels publicly depicted the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights as “a defender of the murderer” for having issued statements, as the national 8 9 The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines participated in these three events in order to present the preliminary findings of the climate change inquiry undertaken by the Commission. In 2016, OHCHR, UNDP and the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions developed joint guidelines to respond effectively to situations of reprisals and other acts of intimidation against national human rights institutions, their members and staff. According to those guidelines, reprisals may take a wide range of forms, including but not limited to intimidation, harassment, threats, sanctions, travel bans, severe budgetary cuts, arbitrary detention, arbitrary criminal prosecution, torture and killings. 15