and guaranteed the right to freedom of expression in the conduct of their work.339 Visa regimes and relevant procedures should not impose undue restrictions for such travel and should be simplified as much as possible. Participating States should generally recognize human rights monitoring, reporting and other human rights activities as legitimate purposes for visits, and should facilitate visas for such visits to the extent possible. Information regarding visa requirements for human rights defenders should be precise and clear, and should be made easily accessible. In addition, participating States should ensure that officials involved in decisions on visa applications are appropriately trained and sensitized to the specific challenges and needs of human rights defenders and the legitimacy and importance of their work, including across borders. Furthermore, participating States should process visa applications as expeditiously as possible, and observe the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination when deciding whether to issue visas.340 The importance of these principles in dealing with visa applications is also reaffirmed, for example, in Article 39 of the Visa Code adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, which stipulates that “consular staff shall not discriminate against persons on grounds of sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, age or other status” and “any measures shall be proportionate to the objectives pursued by such measures”.341 234. In general, visa regulations are not sensitive to the specifics of the work of human rights defenders, which can be carried out individually or in association with others, and in registered or unregistered NGOs. As a result, human rights defenders working individually or in unregistered associations may be unable to obtain required documents regarding their official place of employment, the duration of their employment contract, their level of income and other related documentary evidence to prove their financial sustainability and attachment to their own country. Moreover, invitations issued by unregistered NGOs and human rights defenders working individually to human rights defenders from other participating States for the purpose of human rights work may not be considered by visa issuing authorities as official and valid. As such, participating States should also consider practical ways to ensure, to the extent possible, that human rights defenders’ specific individual circumstances – such as, for example, past arbitrary convictions and charges and arrests resulting from human rights work – do not result in visa applications being denied or unduly delayed. Similarly, the relevant authorities should be sensitive to specific problems facing human rights defenders who have been granted refugee status or other forms of protection and who seek to travel from one participating State to another to attend human rights meetings or conferences, 339  UN Human Rights Committee, “Concluding Observations on Uzbekistan”, UN Doc. CCPR/C/UZB/CO/3, 7 April 2010, para. 24. 340  As regards the principle of non-discrimination, Vienna 1989 (Co-operation in Humanitarian and Other Fields) stresses that participating States “will deal favourably with applications for travel abroad without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, age or other status” (para. 20). 341  Regulation (EC) No. 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Visa Code, 13 July 2009, Article 39. 108 Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders