A/HRC/RES/44/20 19. Encourages States to make appropriate protective equipment and less-lethal weapons available to their officials exercising law enforcement duties in order to decrease their need to use weapons of any kind, while pursuing efforts to regulate and establish protocols for the training and use of less-lethal weapons, bearing in mind that even less-lethal weapons can result in a risk to life or serious injury; 20. Underlines the importance of thorough and independent testing of less-lethal weapons prior to procurement and deployment to establish their lethality and the extent of likely injury, and of monitoring appropriate training and use of such weapons; 21. Stresses the importance of international cooperation in support of national efforts for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the context of assemblies, including peaceful protests, in order to raise the capacities of law enforcement agencies to deal with such assemblies in a manner that conforms to international human rights law and standards; 22. Underlines the necessity to address the management of assemblies, including peaceful protests, so as to contribute to their peaceful conduct, and to prevent injuries, including those that lead to disability, and loss of life of protestors, those observing, monitoring and recording such assemblies, bystanders, and officials exercising law enforcement duties, as well as any human rights violation or abuse, to ensure accountability for such violations and abuses and to provide victims with access to a remedy and redress; 23. Recognizes the importance of documenting human rights violations and abuses committed in the context of peaceful protests, and the role that can be played by national human rights institutions, civil society, including non-governmental organizations, journalists and other media workers, Internet users and human rights defenders in this regard; 24. Calls upon States to refrain from the use of digital technology to silence, unlawfully or arbitrarily surveil, or harass individuals or groups solely for having organized, taken part in, or observed, monitored or recorded peaceful protests, or from ordering blanket Internet shutdowns and from blocking websites and platforms around protests or key political moments; 25. Also calls upon States to refrain from applying any undue restrictions to technical solutions to secure and to protect the confidentiality of digital communications, including measures for encryption, pseudonymization and anonymity online, given that these can be important to ensure the enjoyment of human rights, in particular the rights to privacy, in the context of assemblies; 26. Urges States to ensure accountability for human rights violations and abuses through judicial or other national mechanisms, based on law and in conformity with their international human rights obligations and commitments, and to provide all victims with access to a remedy and redress, including in the context of peaceful protests; 27. Decides to convene, at its forty-eighth session, a panel discussion on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests, with a particular focus on achievements and contemporary challenges; 28. Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to liaise with States, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, other relevant special procedures, relevant United Nations bodies and agencies, non-governmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders with a view to ensuring their participation in the panel discussion, to make the panel discussion fully accessible, and to prepare a report on the outcome of the panel discussion in the form of a summary, to be submitted to the Human Rights Council at its fiftieth session; 29. Requests the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association to prepare a dedicated report on the protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests during crisis situations, and in preparing the said report to seek the views of States, the Office of the High Commissioner, relevant United Nations agencies, in particular the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, United Nations human rights treaty bodies, regional human rights mechanisms, other relevant special procedure mandate holders, national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations and other 6