A/HRC/23/36 (c) Equality and non-discrimination: (i) Undertake an audit of barriers to participation and identify those communities and groups who face the most obstacles in enjoying their right to participation. (ii) Set up a task force of people with experience of living in poverty to make recommendations on how people living in poverty can effectively participate in decision-making. (iii) Use these recommendations and audits to issue guidance to all relevant government departments on how to ensure non-discrimination and equality regarding the right to participation. (iv) Design participatory mechanisms, taking into account the inequalities and asymmetries of power in a given context, and take all necessary measures to counteract them, including through affirmative action. (v) Ensure that conditions for participation do not unfairly exclude certain categories of people, for example those without identity documents or with mobility restrictions. (vi) Take positive action to promote the inclusion of disadvantaged groups including ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities in decision-making bodies, including by allocating resources and designing mechanisms tailored for their use. (vii) Undertake an analysis of barriers to women’s participation, particularly in poor communities, and take proactive measures to tackle these barriers, for example implementing women-only participatory spaces or providing childcare facilities. (d) Access to information: (i) Enact a comprehensive right to information law, ensuring that the department designated to deal with requests is properly resourced, Promote effective and widespread use of the law including by: a. Adopting policies, programmes and proactive measures that promote its use by people living in poverty. b. Training public officials on the importance of access to information and the need to protect information solicitors. (ii) Take specific measures to provide State data to the public, in accessible formats and via appropriate channels for people living in poverty, in particular by: a. Publishing and disseminating regular information related to budgets (at local and national levels) and the quality of public services, including disaggregated data, in a non-technical and simplified form. b. Proactively disseminating legal information and other key documents for decision-making (e.g. environmental impact assessments), in all relevant languages. (iii) Communicate information through accessible channels and in appropriate forms, taking into account the technical understanding, literacy levels and languages of people living in poverty. 21

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