A/HRC/43/50 levels. Hence, the work of cultural rights defenders is grounded in international human rights standards, and they have the right to undertake their work. 6. Human rights defenders are defined by what they do. They can be any person or group of persons working peacefully to promote human rights, including cultural rights, ranging from intergovernmental organizations, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to individuals working locally. Defenders can be of any gender or age, from any part of the world and from any professional or other background. Human rights defenders are not only found within non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations; in some instances, they could be government officials, civil servants or members of the private sector.4 Cultural institutions themselves may be cultural rights defenders. 7. Cultural rights defenders include experts, activists and ordinary people who act in defence of cultural rights. While respect for expertise is today essential, it is also important to avoid elitism in defining cultural work and to recognize wide-ranging contributions to the defence of cultural rights. Some are unable to obtain the credentials necessary for expert recognition because of discrimination, such as when women are excluded from educational opportunities. 8. Cultural rights defenders may work on different substantive areas of cultural rights such as scientific freedom or the right to participate equally in sports. Collectively, they reflect the vibrancy of broad cultural ecosystems. They may also work in different ways, including those defenders who: (a) seek to understand, protect and develop cultural rights, in line with human rights principles; (b) seek to protect individuals and groups who work within cultural rights spaces through advocacy, education and research; (c) work to secure the rights of all to have access to, participate in, contribute to and enjoy cultural life, without discrimination; (d) use their work in the arts or culture to defend human rights generally (A/HRC/37/55); (e) seek to protect the locations, broadly defined, where culture is enjoyed, practised or developed, and ensure equal rights to access and enjoy those sites, including public spaces and cultural heritage sites; (f) seek action to end impunity and gain accountability for those that violate cultural rights, and remedies for victims of violations of cultural rights; (g) advocate for or participate in processes of cultural change aimed at enhancing the enjoyment of cultural rights and non-discrimination, in accordance with international human rights norms; (h) work to strengthen policy to protect cultural rights; or (i) seek opportunities, such as through education and communication, to highlight the importance of cultural rights, including the cultural rights of specific groups, or to highlight threats to those rights. 9. Cultural rights defenders have many similarities with other human rights defenders and their work should be recognized as being in the same category and of equal importance. However, recognition of their own commonalities and specific needs, which are sometimes overlooked, is vital. Moreover, the identities of human rights defenders may overlap. For example, someone can be an indigenous human rights defender or a woman human rights defender, and be a cultural rights defender simultaneously, or a person can be one and then another, at different times. 10. The present report does not create a new category. Instead, it explicitly names, clearly identifies, and seeks to empower and raise the profile of an existing, often ignored, subcategory of human rights defenders, in keeping with the Secretary-General’s call for a more coherent and comprehensive approach to implementation of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and for filling gaps in their protection (A/73/230, para. 66). While naming is not a panacea for the difficulties faced by cultural rights defenders and may in some situations have only modest benefits, it is one way of addressing challenges and marshalling resources to do so, and can have significant impact in certain situations. The task is to find cross-sectoral collaborative pathways to encourage the provision of funding and the development of improved support and protection programmes for people working on these rights, and to work against their unintentional erasure. Owing to the broad nature of cultural rights and their specificities, many cultural rights defenders work outside what 4 ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/Defender.aspx. 3