A/HRC/50/31 B. Recommendations 76. The Special Rapporteur reiterates his call upon States and all relevant stakeholders to make use of the OHCHR Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders. 77. The Special Rapporteur stresses that States should increase their efforts to develop a human rights-based, gender-responsive, age- and child-sensitive approach to migration and border governance that ensures that the human rights of migrants, including those in irregular situations, are always the first consideration. 78. The Special Rapporteur urges Member States to put an end to pushback practices, to suspend, cancel and revoke, as necessary, initiatives to legalize pushbacks, and to respect fully the prohibition of collective expulsion and uphold the principle of non-refoulement. 79. The Special Rapporteur reminds States of their duty to provide prompt, adequate and effective search and rescue services for migrants in distress on land and at sea. Life-saving assistance should be a fundamental element of national border governance strategies to protect the lives of people crossing international borders and prevent migrant deaths and injuries. Any search and rescue unit receiving information about a distress incident should take immediate action if in a position to assist. 80. The Special Rapporteur calls on States not to impose any penalty or restriction on search and rescue services and life-saving humanitarian assistance taken by civil society organizations and other private actors on land and at sea, nor to render their work more difficult through the imposition of bureaucratic obstacles. In the context of search and rescue at sea, States should designate truly safe ports of disembarkation. 81. The Special Rapporteur urges States to refrain from entering into international agreements that would result in human rights violations; to suspend, cancel and revoke, as necessary, bilateral and multilateral return and readmission agreements, including those based on the safe third country concept, which risk violating the prohibition of collective expulsion and the principle of non-refoulement. States should ensure that any such agreement fully respects procedural guarantees to provide an individualized assessment on whether the third country concerned is safe for each migrant subject to return and readmission, and migrant applicants must have the opportunity to challenge whether that country is safe or not in their particular circumstances, so that it does not lead to violations of the human rights of returned migrants. The Special Rapporteur reiterates his call on States to establish effective independent monitoring mechanisms. He notes that arrangements should ensure that monitoring mechanisms are allowed access to all migration-related facilities and procedures to monitor their compliance with international human rights laws and standards, building on best practices and monitoring methodologies. The participation of civil society organizations without obstacles should be encouraged, and civil society monitors should be protected from threats or retribution for their involvement in independent border monitoring. 82. The Special Rapporteur encourages Member States to seize the opportunity of the first International Migration Review Forum and renew their commitments relating to border management, saving lives and preventing migrant deaths and injuries, and facilitating safe and dignified return and readmission, inter alia, as contained in the Global Compact for Migration. 18