such information may disclose the authorities’ responsibility for human rights violations, as well as corruption. However, OSCE participating States have committed to respect human rights and the right to defend human rights and fundamental freedoms.405 They have also confirmed the important contribution of individuals, groups and associations in assisting states to ensure compliance with their OSCE human dimension commitments.406 They should therefore also respect and protect the right of human rights defenders to share information with international bodies. 266. In order to strengthen the protection of human rights in their countries, communi- cation with international bodies, in particular human rights mechanisms, should be considered and recognized as a routine activity, and an important one. Participating States should therefore, take proactive steps to facilitate the exercise of the right of human rights defenders to communicate with such bodies. For example, as routinely recommended by UN Treaty Bodies, states should translate relevant treaties, concluding observations and recommendations from the review of state reports, case-law and other relevant documents into local languages, and should disseminate these widely to raise awareness about international human rights mechanisms and to encourage their use.407 Similarly, states should disseminate recommendations made by other human rights mechanisms, as well as standards and jurisprudence from regional human rights mechanisms and other institutions. They should also publicise information about how to submit complaints to international and regional human rights mechanisms and institutions, including regional human rights courts, and otherwise facilitate the use of these mechanisms when required. 267. UN Treaty Bodies also routinely request that states actively consult with civil soci- ety when preparing periodic reports on their implementation of the relevant human 405  Vienna 1989, para. 13.5; UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, Article 1. 406  See, for example, Moscow 1991. 407  See, for example, the following recommendation of the Human Rights Committee, similar forms of which can be found in all Concluding Observations made following the review of a state report: “[t]he State party should widely disseminate the Covenant, the two Optional Protocols to the Covenant, the text of the second periodic report, the written responses that it has provided in response to the list of issues drawn up by the Committee and the present concluding observations so as to increase awareness among the judicial, legislative and administrative authorities, civil society and non-governmental organizations operating in the country, as well as the general public. The Committee also suggests that the report and the concluding observations be translated into the other official language of the State party.” See Human Rights Committee, “Concluding Observations: Bosnia and Herzegovina,” UN Doc. CCPR/C/BIH/CO/2, 13 November 2012, para. 22. Similarly, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated that “[t]he Committee further recommends that the combined second to fourth periodic reports and written replies by the State party and the related recommendations (concluding observations) be made widely available in the languages of the country, including (but not exclusively) through the Internet, to the public at large, civil society organizations, media, youth groups, professional groups and children, in order to generate debate and awareness of the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto and of their implementation and monitoring.” See Committee on the Rights of the Child, “Concluding Observations: Bosnia and Herzegovina,” UN Doc. CRC/C/BIH/CO/2-4, 29 November 2012, para. 81. 124 Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders