A/HRC/RES/44/20 and practices, and to promote and protect human rights in the context of assemblies, including peaceful protests; 7. Calls upon States to facilitate peaceful protests by providing protestors, to the extent possible, with access to public space within sight and sound of their intended target audience, and by protecting them, without discrimination, where necessary, against any form of threat or harassment, and underlines the role of local authorities in this regard; 8. Underlines the important role that communication between organizers, protestors, local authorities and officials exercising law enforcement duties can play in the proper management of assemblies, such as peaceful protests, and calls upon States to establish such appropriate channels; 9. Urges States to pay particular attention to the safety and protection of women and girls, as well as of women human rights defenders, from acts of intimidation and harassment, and gender-based violence, including sexual assault, in the context of peaceful protests; 10. Reaffirms that States must take all appropriate measures for the safety and protection of children, including while they exercise their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, of expression and of association, including in the context of peaceful protests; 11. Calls upon all States to pay particular attention to the safety of human rights defenders, journalists and other media workers observing, monitoring and recording protests, taking into account their specific role, exposure and vulnerability; 12. Stresses that, in times when physical assemblies are restricted, inter alia in times of crisis or emergency, it is all the more necessary that access to and use of the Internet be ensured by refraining from undue restrictions, such as Internet shutdowns or online censorship, by taking measures to ensure that access to the Internet extends to the entirety of the global population and that it is affordable, and by fully respecting and protecting each individual’s right to privacy; 13. Calls upon all States to refrain from and cease measures, when in violation of international human rights law, that are aimed at shutting down the Internet and telecommunications or at otherwise blocking Internet users from gaining access to or disseminating information online, or from gathering in online spaces; 14. Urges all States to avoid using force during peaceful protests, to ensure that, where force is absolutely necessary, no one is subject to excessive or indiscriminate use of force, and also to ensure that assistance and medical aid are rendered to any injured or affected person at the earliest possible moment; 15. Calls upon States, as a matter of priority, to ensure that their domestic legislation and procedures are consistent with their international obligations and commitments in relation to the use of force in the context of law enforcement and are effectively implemented by officials exercising law enforcement duties, in particular, applicable principles of law enforcement, such as necessity and proportionality, bearing in mind that lethal force may only be used as a last resort to protect against an imminent threat to life and that it may not be used merely to disperse a gathering; 16. Affirms that nothing can ever justify the indiscriminate use of lethal force against a crowd, which is unlawful under international human rights law; 17. Calls upon States to investigate any deaths or significant injuries, including those that lead to disability, incurred during protests, including those resulting from the discharge of firearms or the use of less-lethal weapons by officials exercising law enforcement duties or by private personnel acting on behalf of the State; 18. Also calls upon States to ensure adequate training of officials exercising law enforcement duties and, where applicable, to promote adequate training for private personnel acting on behalf of the State, including in international human rights law and, where appropriate, international humanitarian law, and in this regard urges States to include in such training the application of de-escalation strategies; 5