A/HRC/57/60 champion women’s safe and meaningful participation in such processes, we must step up efforts to empower and protect them. In certain contexts, working with the United Nations on gender and women’s rights creates heightened challenges and vulnerabilities – a development that is wholly unacceptable. 128. United Nations spaces to discuss and engage on Indigenous Peoples’ issues, such as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, have continued to witness incidents of intimidation or reprisal against Indigenous Peoples and their representatives. I welcome efforts by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and OHCHR to prevent and address such incidents and to ensure that such forums remain open, safe and inclusive. 129. I am concerned about allegations of intimidation and reprisals against at least 20 young people who cooperated with the Organization, as documented in the elaboration of the present report. I reiterate the commitment of the United Nations to become a safe space for young people, to step up efforts to promote meaningful and safe youth participation and to improve the protection of young people in line with the United Nations Guidance Note on the Protection and Promotion of Civic Space. 130. The Agenda for Protection offers an opportunity for United Nations entities to focus on the critical need to respond to the protection challenges arising in the context of their work and mandates. The United Nations has a responsibility to support and protect human rights defenders and other civil society actors when they are threatened, even more so when those advocating for human rights by engaging with the United Nations face reprisals and intimidation for doing so. United Nations entities are committed to reviewing what the safe, meaningful and inclusive participation of civil society requires and to strengthening the preventative and responsive practices necessary to enable it. 131. The United Nations is committed to strengthening its response to incidents of reprisal and ensuring that the appropriate systems are in place to raise awareness about the issue, to identify, document, track and report on allegations and to send clear zero-tolerance messages in order to publicly support safe and meaningful cooperation with the United Nations system. This must be done in close consultation with and guided by the needs of those concerned. I welcome the efforts, as reflected in the present report, by United Nations entities to develop dedicated protocols or guidelines to prevent and address reprisals, in coordination with OHCHR. 132. Member States bear the primary responsibility for preventing and addressing reprisals. I reiterate my call to States to refrain from, prevent and ensure accountability for any acts of intimidation and reprisal for cooperation with the United Nations and to share and build upon good practices on how to prevent and address reprisals for cooperation with the United Nations. 133. I call upon the international community to ensure that concerted action is taken to protect, support and ensure the meaningful and safe engagement of individuals and groups, including women human rights defenders and peacebuilders, with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights. GE.24-14259 17