A/HRC/4/37 page 23 C. Women human rights defenders 98. Legal basis: In article 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, States agreed to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country and, in particular, to ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right: … (c) to participate in NGOs and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country. 99. The Special Representative has consistently reiterated that women defenders are more at risk of certain forms of violence and restrictions and become vulnerable to prejudice, exclusion and public repudiation by State forces and social actors especially when engaged in the defence of women’s rights (see E/CN.4/2002/106, paras. 80-94).6 In 2002 the Special Representative spearheaded a three-year international campaign culminating in the World Conference on Women Human Rights Defenders, held in Sri Lanka, which brought together leading gender experts and women human rights defenders from over 70 countries in the world.7 In her report to the sixty-second session of the Commission, the Special Representative emphasized that there is no better protection for women human rights defenders than the strength and support of their own movements and recommended that additional protection measures are therefore needed to provide women’s rights defenders with a secure environment for their work (E/CN.4/2006/95, para. 10). In her 2006 report to the General Assembly, she reiterated that those defending LGBTI rights and women defenders face particular challenges (A/61/312, paras. 71-73). 100. Since the establishment of the mandate, the Special Representative has acted on 449 cases of violations of women human rights defenders concerning 1,314 defenders. Sixty-five of these communications have been sent jointly with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women. 101. The Special Representative has acted on alleged attacks and threats against women human rights defenders in all regions. More than four communications each have been sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, the Sudan and Zimbabwe; Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela; Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Russian Federation, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines; Iran, Israel and Tunisia. 102. Killings of women human rights defenders: The Special Representative has sent communications on 43 cases where women human rights defenders have been killed. In 6 The report focuses on women human rights defenders and the specific violations they face in the course of their work because of their sex and gender. 7 Held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 29 November to 2 December 2005. The conference focused on identifying and developing new strategies for protecting women defenders against a range of sources and types of abuse by States, non-State actors, families and communities, and sexual and sexuality-based attacks. The website www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org continues to be a resource tool for women’s rights defenders.