A/HRC/39/28 17. Moreover, the right to participate requires an environment that values and takes into account the work and contribution of all members of society, supports and encourages their engagement and ensures that they are empowered and equipped with the knowledge and capacity necessary to claim and exercise their rights. 18. The following recommendations set out basic principles and related requirements that are among the minimum essential conditions for the effective exercise of the right to participate in public affairs. Practical recommendations 19. States should create and maintain a safe and enabling environment that is conducive to the exercise of the right to participate in public affairs. (a) States should create the legal framework for giving effect to the right to participate in public affairs by taking the steps necessary to accede to or ratify relevant international and regional human rights treaties, and accept related individual communications procedures. States should ensure that those treaties are adequately incorporated in national laws, policies and practices; (b) The equal right to participate in public affairs should be recognized, protected and implemented in national constitutions and legal frameworks; (c) Laws, policies and institutional arrangements should ensure the equal participation of individuals and groups in the design, implementation and evaluation of any law, regulation, policy, programme or strategy affecting them. Effective remedies should be available if this right is violated;3 (d) States should ensure that relevant rights, in particular the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including the right of access to information, and the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are protected and implemented in national legal frameworks. Effective remedies should be available if those rights are violated; (e) The legitimate and vital role of civil society actors regarding participation in public affairs should be recognized. The independence and pluralism of such actors should be respected, protected and supported, and States should not impose undue restrictions on their ability to access funding from domestic, foreign or international sources; (f) States should encourage and create the conditions for an independent and diverse media. They should enact legislation that promotes and protects the freedom of the media, encourages pluralistic media services and ensures the safety of journalists and other media workers, both offline and online; (g) States should protect civil society actors, including human rights defenders and journalists, in particular women human rights defenders and women journalists, from all threats, attacks, reprisals and acts of intimidation, including against them or their family members, associates and legal representatives, whether offline or online. Such acts should be promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigated, perpetrators brought to justice, and effective remedies provided. In this context, States should exercise due diligence in preventing abuse committed by nonState actors; (h) The right to participate in public affairs should be recognized as a continuum that requires open and honest interaction between public authorities and all members of society, including those most at risk of being marginalized or discriminated against, and should be facilitated continuously. In this context, collaboration with civil society actors for the identification and articulation of gaps, needs and solutions is crucial. Measures should be taken to build mutual respect, understanding and trust between public authorities and civil society actors. 3 4 See para. 21 below.