A/HRC/60/62 I. Introduction 1. The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 12/2, expressed its concern over continued reports of intimidation and reprisals against individuals and groups seeking to cooperate or having cooperated with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights. The Council condemned all acts of intimidation and reprisal committed by Governments and non-State actors against such individuals and groups and invited the Secretary-General to report annually on alleged reprisals, including recommendations on how to address the issue. The present report is the sixteenth report submitted pursuant to resolution 12/2.1 II. Activities in response to acts of intimidation and reprisal 2. Forms of reprisal and retaliation for ongoing or past cooperation and intimidation designed to discourage future participation or cooperation with a wide range of United Nations entities at headquarter locations and in the field continued throughout the reporting period. Incidents or trends were addressed within the United Nations system by the Secretariat, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and United Nations field offices and peace operations, and intergovernmental organs, such as the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Human Rights Council and its special procedure mandate holders, human rights treaty bodies and other mechanisms, such as the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture and the high-level political forum on sustainable development. The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), the Governing Body of the International Labour Office and its Committee on Freedom of Association also addressed reprisal incidents during the period. 3. The Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, the senior United Nations official designated by the Secretary-General to lead system-wide efforts to address intimidation and reprisals, continued her engagement with Member States, United Nations entities, civil society and other stakeholders to raise awareness of and concern about these trends and incidents. 4. The General Assembly and the Human Rights Council addressed acts of intimidation and reprisal for cooperation with the United Nations in several country and thematic resolutions.2 On 22 October 2024, 80 Member States and the European Union delivered a cross-regional statement on reprisals to the Third Committee of the General Assembly, recognizing the crucial role of civil society and human rights defenders in upholding human rights and contributing to the work of the United Nations, as well as the responsibility and commitment of the United Nations in addressing reprisals. They also welcomed the “United Nations Agenda for Protection: strengthening the ability of the United Nations system to protect people through their human rights” 3 and efforts to increase coordination for the identification, documentation, reporting and follow-up of cases of reprisals, while expressing concern about the global trends identified by the Secretary-General in his latest report on the matter.4 5. The presidency of the Human Rights Council received allegations of intimidation and reprisals concerning six States, two of which were members of the Council at the time of the 1 Previous reports are available at https://www.ohchr.org/en/reprisals/annual-reports-reprisalscooperation-un. 2 See, for example, General Assembly resolutions 79/182 and 79/183 and Human Rights Council resolutions 55/27, 56/1, 57/3, 57/15, 57/22, 57/23 and 58/19. 3 See https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/protection/Agenda-Protection-PledgePolicy-Brief.pdf. 4 See https://www.ireland.ie/en/un/newyork/news-and-speeches/speeches-archive/joint-statement-onreprisals-for-cooperation-with-the-united-nations and https://press.un.org/en/2024/gashc4416.doc.htm https. 2