HIGHLIGHTS OF RESULTS P5 More sys tematic monitoring of the environment for civic space, including threats to it, takes place. With support from the special procedures, UN Human Rights conducted a human rights analysis of the draft amendments to legislation “On audio-visual media in the Republic of Albania.” Recommendations from UN Human Rights and other UN agencies were presented by the Resident Coordinator to the Albanian Parliament on 25 November. This advocacy effort helped to prevent the adoption of amendments with the potential to limit freedom of expression and human rights activism. Many human rights violations committed in the DRC in the context of restrictions on democratic space were documented before, during and after the December 2018 elections. Following commitments made by President Tshisekedi to improve the human rights situation, there was a widening of democratic space. The most visible sign of this positive development was the release of political prisoners, the return of political exiles and the holding of several peaceful demonstrations. In this context, UN Human Rights observed a 26 per cent decrease in the number of human rights violations related to democratic space compared to 2018 (from 1,054 in 2018 to 778 in 2019). P6 The voice of people affected by decisions, particularly victims and those who face discrimination, is more clearly heard. In the Republic of Moldova, UN Human Rights created a network for a group of 15 mothers of children from across the country with various types of disabilities, empowering them to advocate both for the rights of their children and for their own rights as caregivers. The mothers supported by UN Human Rights benefited from psychological counselling sessions with a professional psychologist to help them process any difficulties of having a child with disabilities and to feel empowered for conducting advocacy actions. Several capacity-building events that were conducted by UN Human Rights further enhanced their capacity to advocate for the rights of children with disabilities. The group of mothers became a platform for promoting human rights by engaging in dialogue with State authorities, making television appearances and drafting advocacy documents to raise key issues faced by children with disabilities and their family members. In particular, the members of the platform highlighted some of their challenges in exercising the right to health at an event that included participants from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection and 11 mass media outlets. In Serbia, over 30 OPDs and CSOs contributed to public discussions on the drafting of the new National Strategy on Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities 2020-2024. The drafting of the new Anti-Discrimination Strategy relied on inputs from CSOs through discussions and questionnaires; consultations that were held between CSOs and the Government on the draft Anti-Discrimination Law in 2019; consultations that were held between the Government, CSOs and women’s organizations on the parameters of the new Strategy on Eradicating Domestic Violence; and the coordination and framing of the critical inputs of OPDs to the Family Law amendments regarding the legal capacity regime. UN Human Rights contributed to achieving this result by helping to create space for CSOs in policymaking processes. In Guinea-Bissau, UN Human Rights significantly contributed to the meaningful participation of rights-holders, especially women and discriminated groups, in selected public processes. Following the mentoring efforts of UN Human Rights, which targeted a core group of 41 HRDs, including 19 women, on human rights monitoring and elections and early warning, the Human Rights Defenders Network monitored the presidential elections in all regions of the country, in November and December, to identify and address threats of human rights violations. In addition, six networks of CSOs were mobilized with the assistance of the European Union, UN Women, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNIOGBIS. The networks received support from the Peacebuilding Fund for the joint development and monitoring of an electoral Code of Conduct for the presidential elections, to establish a situation room to identify and monitor possible risks and to provide early warning on threats to the electoral process. The situation room was set up during the first and second rounds of the presidential elections, in November and December. The 58 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2019 Shifts: Global Constituency Prevention Civic Space