223. Participating States should encourage and proactively facilitate the equal and meaningful participation of human rights defenders and NGOs, including those working at the grass-roots levels, by ensuring access to relevant information, supporting the conduct of independent studies and surveys, welcoming public policy debates and human rights-monitoring activities, including the observation of trials and other proceedings. As part of their participation in actions aimed at strengthening the rule of law, including through established mechanisms for consultation and dialogue in the development and review of laws and legislative amendments, human rights defenders should also be allowed unhindered access to courts so that they may monitor the functioning of the justice system. Furthermore, human rights defenders should be allowed to carry out monitoring activities in detention facilities and in other public institutions, and should be appropriately involved in the establishment and operation of independent oversight bodies.324 Participating States are also encouraged to seek the assistance of human rights defenders, their groups and organizations, in building the capacity of relevant state institutions, training public officials on human rights and sensitizing them to the legitimacy and importance of the work of human rights defenders (see also the section on Framework for implementation below). H. Freedom of movement and human rights work within and across borders 224. A rticle 12 of the ICCPR and Protocol 4 to the ECHR guarantee the right of indi- viduals to leave any country, including their own, as well as the right to return to or enter their country. Furthermore, Article 13 of the UDHR affords everybody the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state, while Article 12 of the ICCPR and Protocol 4 to the ECHR apply these rights to 324  In its Concluding Observations on Bulgaria, for example, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) expressed concern that “independent monitoring by civil society organizations is not allowed in all cases of detention and that non-governmental organizations such as the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee require a prosecutor’s permission for access to pre-trial detainees” and recommended the state party to “ensure independent, effective and regular monitoring of all places of detention by independent non-governmental bodies.” See “Concluding Observations of the Committee against Torture: Bulgaria”, CAT/C/BGR/CO/4-5, 14 December 2011, para. 11. Concerning the establishment of the national preventive mechanism (NPM) for the monitoring of places of detention under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), the Guidelines of the Sub-Committee on the Prevention of Torture state that the identification or creation of the NPM should be “an open, transparent and inclusive process which involves a wide range of stakeholders, including civil society”, and that this should also apply to the process for the selection and appointment of members of the NPM. See Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, “Guidelines on national preventive mechanisms”, CAT/OP/12/5, 9 December 2010. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, for example, recommended the Government of Georgia to “[e]nsure systematic civil society participation in the monitoring and investigation of police stations and prison facilities; in this regard, it should ensure access to civil society organizations (other than those represented in the national preventive mechanism) to all premises and facilities where people are detained.” See “Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Addendum, Mission to Georgia”, UN Doc. A/HRC/19/57/Add. 2, 27 January 2012, para. 98(c). CAT also recommended monitoring by NGOs to enhance oversight in the context of expulsion operations carried out by the police. See the UN Committee against Torture, “Concluding Observations: Belgium”, UN Doc. CAT/C/ BEL/CO/3, 3 January 2014, para. 20. Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders 103