A/HRC/34/23 3. Forms of cooperation 96. The suggestions made to enhance the protection of human rights defenders and civil society in general included the following: (a) Hold States accountable for violations of the rights of human rights defenders and restrictions of the space in which they operate. Press States to adopt legislation and tools to protect human rights defenders; (b) Make decisions or recommendations made by the United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms accessible to national actors in a user-friendly format and develop joint manuals on monitoring the implementation of human rights recommendations at international and regional levels; (c) Ensure that counter-terrorism measures comply with relevant international human rights standards and strengthen legal frameworks and access to justice; (d) Enhance discussion with Governments, resulting in a political environment that would be conducive to civil society work; (e) Identify best practices for creating mechanisms to protect human rights defenders, including regular monitoring, review and public reporting on issues connected with civic space issues and challenges across systems; (f) Encourage national human rights institutions to appoint focal points on civil society matters and create desks for human rights defenders; (g) Expand work on early warning mechanisms and responses to advise on problems affecting a given country thereby contributing to sustainable solutions; (h) Improve practices for the exchange of information and provide additional support for matters directly related to human rights defenders, including sharing jurisprudence; (i) Establish closer cooperation among the regional mechanisms that have special mandates on human rights defenders, including staff exchange programmes. E. Cooperation on freedom of assembly and association 97. A panel whose members discussed cooperation in respect of freedom of assembly and association focused on challenges related to peaceful protest, including the use of force during assemblies. Trends and shared challenges were identified, and ways of tackling that common global problem were proposed. 1. Good practices 98. The Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association indicated that he cooperated on thematic areas of mutual interest with his counterpart from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. 99. He also noted that the resolution of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons was crucial to the support for such persons in Africa. 100. A workshop participant representing CIVICUS — World Alliance for Citizen Participation presented the Alliance’s research on peaceful protests and offered an analysis of key challenges to freedom of association, including of the ways Governments and the international community protected the right to protest. 14