Implementing the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms through providing a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders and ensuring their protection A/RES/74/146 Welcoming the steps taken by some States to create a safe and enabling environment for the promotion, protection and defence of human righ ts, and recognizing in this regard the positive efforts by authorities, national human rights institutions, where they exist, and civil society towards the development and enactment of relevant national policies, laws, programmes and practices, Mindful that domestic law and administrative provisions and their application should not hinder but enable the work of human rights defenders, including by avoiding any criminalization, stigmatization, impediments, obstructions or restrictions thereof contrary to the obligations and commitments of States under international human rights law, Gravely concerned that national security, counter-terrorism and cybercrime legislation and other measures, such as laws regulating civil society organizations, are in some instances misused to target human rights defenders or have hindered their work and endangered their safety in a manner contrary to international law, Recognizing the pressing importance of addressing, and taking concrete steps to prevent and stop, the use of legislation to hinder or limit unduly the ability of human rights defenders to exercise their work, including by reviewing and, where necessary, amending relevant legislation and its implementation in order to ensure compliance with international human rights law, Recognizing also that the protection of human rights defenders can be fully achieved only in the context of a holistic approach that includes the strengthening of democratic institutions, the fight against impunity, a reduction in economic inequality and equal access to justice, Welcoming the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which confirmed the important contribution of human rights defenders to the protection of human rights, development and peace, and taking note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General on the efforts of the United Nations to promote the implementation of the Declaration, 9 Stressing the importance of meaningful participation of human rights defenders in the implementation of the Declaration, and reaffirming the right of everyone, individually and in association with others, to unhindered access to and communication with international bodies, in particular the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights, including the Human Rights Council and its special procedures, the universal periodic review mechanism and treaty bodies, as well as regional human rights mechanisms, in accordance with their respective mandates, existing rules of procedure and modalities, without fear of reprisals, Recalling its resolution 74/5 of 15 October 2019, by which it proclaimed 28 September as the International Day for Universal Access to Information, and taking note with appreciation of the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights entitled “Procedures and practices in respect of civil society engagement with international and regional organizations”,10 Recognizing that, while the institutional measures for the protection of human rights defenders and the promotion of their work within the United Nations, regional organizations and national systems have grown in number since the adoption of the Declaration, they remain insufficient to address the ongoing human rights violations __________________ 9 10 19-22249 A/73/230. A/HRC/38/18. 3/7