A/HRC/42/30 association, media and access to information, anti-terrorism and computer crime (ETH 2/2018), seen as positive developments that would strengthen the rule of law. Prior to 2018, partners reported reluctance to engage with the United Nations for fear of reprisals. In April 2019, the special procedures acknowledged the positive steps taken by the Government in the revision of the Civil Society Proclamation despite some remaining hindrances in the legislation.21 Recommendations to broaden reforms were made by States in the universal periodic review in May 201922 and noted by the High Commissioner in March 2019.23 19. There have been several initiatives to develop guidance and improve reporting. The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 39/11, presented guidelines for States on the effective implementation of the right to participate in public affairs, which address intimidation and reprisals (see, for example, A/HRC/39/28, para. 102). OHCHR developed guidance on integrating a gender perspective into human rights investigations, which includes measures for preventing reprisals.24 20. The World Bank Group developed good practices for complaints involving its projects. Following the publication of its guidelines,25 the Office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman has reported complaints disaggregated by region and the source from which the threats allegedly emanated.26 21. In October 2018, the International Finance Corporation published a statement on retaliation against civil society and project stakeholders, 27 affirming that it would not tolerate action “that amounts to retaliation – including threats, intimidation, harassment, or violence”. It is developing internal protocols, including on risk screening procedures. 22. The UNDP Social and Environmental Compliance Unit of the Office of Audit and Investigations has preliminarily approved a standard operating procedure on managing risk and retaliation related to its work, which will be open to public comment. The Unit also assisted the Inter-American Development Bank in developing a toolkit on measures for addressing the risk of reprisals.28 23. The Department of Peace Operation’s 2019 revised draft policy on the protection of civilians directs all components of peacekeeping missions to not expose civilians to risk or to cause harm for cooperation with a mission. It includes measures to prevent reprisals, including potentially for individual protection, and requires risk assessments for military and police components to mitigate civilian harm before conducting operations. 24. In March 2019, during the closing session of the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women)29 and the Commission Chair raised concerns about incidents of reported cyberbullying against the facilitator of the agreed conclusions of the Commission. UN-Women expressed appreciation for the unanimity of the condemnation of the incidents and noted that cyberbullying had no place in the United Nations. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24443&LangID=E. See A/HRC/42/14, sect. I.B and paras. 163.56, 163.58–163.63, 163.68–163.69 and 163.218–163.220. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=24265&LangID=E. https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/IntegratingGenderPerspective_EN.pdf. http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/newsroom/documents/CAOApproachtoReprisals.htm. https://www.cao-ar18.org/reprisals-article/index.html. https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/ec379db4-56f1-41e1-9d868ea05945bc67/EN_IFC_Reprisals_Statement_201810.pdf?MOD=AJPERES. http://independentaccountabilitymechanism.net/ocrp002p.nsf/0/ce43d67170fcd8f3482583a20026 ab13/$file/guide_for_iams_on_measures_to_address_the_risk_of_reprisals_in_complaints_managem ent_february_2019.pdf. http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2019/3/speech-ed-phumzile-closing-csw63. 5