A/HRC/35/36 (e) The Sustainable Development Goals offer an opportunity to tackle violence and discrimination, also in regard to sexual orientation and gender identity, and this opportunity should be taken full advantage of in order to ensure that no one is left behind, without exception or distinction. This avenue can allow Governments and other actors to generate data and information in a disaggregated manner so as to facilitate future planning and allocation of resources. (f) There is a need to build checks and balances, especially at the national level, to prevent abuses of power and to ensure compliance with human rights. Cooperation should be explored not only with the executive branch of government, but also with parliamentarians and the judiciary, who may assist in weighing the various actions at the national level to ensure respect for international human rights standards. In parallel to this, capacity-building for law enforcers and related personnel, including through education and the integration of sexual orientation and gender identity into their educational curricula, is much needed in order to enhance understanding about sexual orientation and gender identity and about sexual and gender diversity. (g) More cooperation with independent and pluralistic national human rights institutions, such as national human rights commissions and ombudspersons, should be undertaken to provide a link between international norms and national settings. These institutions should be supported, as part of the checks and balances to prevent and overcome abuses of power and human rights violations and also to promote access to justice and remedies. They should be paralleled by strong regional systems and initiatives to help advance protection against violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. (h) The work of human rights defenders and the much-needed space for civil society, including for non-governmental organizations and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex groups and persons, calls for effective safeguards against incursions and reprisals from various protagonists (whether State or nonState actors) who do not comply with human rights. Cooperation with a multiplicity of actors, including community leaders (such as political and religious leaders) and those in the medical and scientific professions, the business sector and the media (e.g. social networks) should be fostered in order to protect against violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, with that protection underscored by international human rights law. This is interlinked with the call for broad-based education, awareness-raising and action responsive to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. (i) The role of the United Nations, including the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, is pivotal in order to raise the issue of violence and discrimination and to address it through comprehensive and holistic measures, with due regard for the recommendations of the Independent Expert as an impetus for follow-up action. United Nations human rights presences are important and need to be bolstered in countries and regions where there are major gaps in human rights protection; this is certainly also the case in regard to sexual orientation and gender identity. This should be complemented by the catalytic role of United Nations country teams and inter-agency cooperation to integrate sexual orientation and gender identity issues into programming and practices on the basis of no “protection deficit” and no “protection vacuum”. (j) The Independent Expert is firmly committed to building bridges, that are anchored on the mandate, with a broad range of actors and stakeholders (governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental), and looks forward to constructive dialogue and cooperation, with more country visits — premised on international human rights law, reflective of local wisdom and resonant with the universal message of “diversity in humanity, humanity in diversity”. 20