Intimidation and harassment may also be initiated by non-state actors, with the state either condoning or actively supporting such actions. Judicial harassment and criminalization can result in human rights defenders facing arbitrary arrest and detention,134 long prison terms or the deprivation of their liberty on other grounds, such as by involuntary psychiatric commitment for punitive purposes.135 96. Racist, sexist and other bias by representatives of state authorities, including law enforcement agents and judicial officials, may impact both the capacity and the political will to condemn, investigate and prosecute instances of threats and violence directed towards human rights defenders working on minority rights and gender issues.136 It may also result in or compound judicial and other forms of harassment by the authorities targeting these human rights defenders. Human rights defenders working on issues perceived as sensitive in some participating States, such as gender-based violence and women’s rights, have also faced observably higher risks of such undue interference with their activities. 97. Harassment and intimidation may take subtle forms, often disguised as for- mally originating in the law. Legislative vagueness and loopholes in the law may be exploited to criminalize human rights defenders (see also the section on Freedom of opinion and expression below). The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders has observed a particular tendency whereby more sophisticated forms of interference with the work of human rights defenders are employed, “including the application of legal and administrative provisions or the misuse of the judicial system to criminalize […] their activities.”137 The Special Rapporteur has noted that “[t]hese patterns not only endanger the physical integrity and undermine the work of human rights defenders, but also impose a climate of fear and send an intimidating message to society at large.”138 134  The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, for example, has noted reports of “persistent acts of intimidation and the judicial harassment of human rights defenders, at times resulting in prison sentences and heavy fines amid reports of due process irregularities in trials”, UN Doc. A/HRC/23/52, 18 April 2013, para. 92. 135  According to information reported to ODIHR, the forced institutionalization of human rights defenders in psychiatric hospitals to silence them is often accompanied by involuntary medical treatment, which is an interference with the right to private life and can constitute a serious violation of the right to physical integrity. See, for example, the concerns about the alleged forced psychiatric treatment and confinement of human rights defenders expressed by several UN Special Procedure mandates, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, in their joint urgent appeals to the governments of Ukraine and Kazakhstan, UKR 2/2013, 22 July 2013, <https://spdb.ohchr.org/hrdb/24th/public_-_UA_Ukraine_22.07.13_(2.2013).pdf>; and KAZ 4/2013, 22 August 2013, <https://spdb.ohchr.org/hrdb/24th/public_-_UA_Kazakhstan_22.08.13_ (4.2013).pdf>. 136  As set out in the section on “Confronting stigmatization and marginalization” below, in its resolution on women human rights defenders the UNGA expressed particular concern at discriminatory practices and social norms or patterns that serve to condone violence against women, and invited leaders from all sectors of society, including political, military, social and faith leaders, to express public support for the important role of women human rights defenders and the legitimacy of their work. See A/RES/68/181, preamble and operative para. 15. 137  Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, A/HRC/25/55, 23 December 2013, para. 59. 138  Ibid. Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders 55