activities.21 Indeed, OSCE participating States recognized the need to protect human rights defenders already in 1994.22 15. Due to the risks they face as a result of their work, human rights defenders require specific and enhanced protection at the local, national and international levels. As a first step towards strengthening the protection of human rights defenders, OSCE participating States should publicly acknowledge the important role of human rights defenders, the legitimacy of their activities and the existence of these risks. 16. Certain groups of human rights defenders are exposed to heightened risks, for example, due to the specific issues they are working on, the context in which they operate or because they belong to or are associated through their work with socially excluded and marginalized groups. Depending on the human rights situation and specific circumstances in a given country, specific groups of human rights defenders who are at heightened risk may include, but are not limited to, the following: • Women human rights defenders, i.e., women of all ages who engage in the defence of human rights and all people who engage in the defence of the rights of women and gender equality23 including those working on, for example, gender-based violence and maternal health, among other issues; • Human rights defenders belonging to or defending the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities – including Roma and Sinti, Travellers, people of African descent, refugees and migrants, among others – or indigenous people; • Human rights defenders with disabilities, including mental disabilities, and those defending the rights of persons with disabilities; • LGBTI people who are human rights defenders and all those working against discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and intersex status; • Human rights defenders who are members of particular professional groups such as law enforcement officers, military personnel, judges and lawyers, government officials, civil servants and other state employees, human rights Ombudspersons and staff of NHRIs, journalists and other media workers; • Whistleblowers who disclose information about human rights abuses, as well as those who receive, possess or disseminate such information; 21  See the preamble to the UNGA Resolution on women human rights defenders, UN Doc. A/RES/68/181, adopted on 18 December 2013. See also UNGA Resolution 66/164, preambular para. 3. 22  Budapest 1994. 23  The term “women human rights defender” is used here as it has been set out in the UNGA Resolution of December 2013, which includes both human rights defenders who are women and all those, irrespective of their gender, who defend women’s rights and gender equality. See UNGA Resolution 68/181, preambular para. 6. Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders 27