A/HRC/42/20 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 36/16, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit a report on violence, death and serious injury in situations of deprivation of liberty, drawing on the experience of United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms, and seeking the views of States, including on their policies and best practices, civil society and other relevant stakeholders. It requested the report to be presented at the forty-second session of the Council. In preparation of this report, contributions were sought from Member States, international and regional organizations, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations.1 In addition to drawing on the information received from these entities, the High Commissioner also draws on a range of public sources, including from United Nations human rights mechanisms and work by civil society organizations. 2. The issue of violence, death and serious injury was identified by the SecretaryGeneral as one of the most important challenges pertaining to the protection of persons deprived of their liberty.2 By depriving persons of their liberty, States assume the responsibility to protect the life and bodily integrity of such persons. States are thus obligated to prevent the ill-treatment of, and violence against, such persons and to ensure that the conditions of a dignified life are met. 3. The human rights of persons deprived of their liberty are enumerated in core international human rights instruments. The right to life of all individuals, including of persons deprived of their liberty, is enshrined in article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as is the prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of life. The right to be protected from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is found in article 7 of the Covenant and in the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Persons deprived of their liberty must also be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person as set out in article 10 of the Covenant. The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) provide States with important and detailed guidelines for protecting and fulfilling the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty. 4. In the present report, the High Commissioner addresses the intersection between situations of deprivation of liberty and violence, death and serious injury. The High Commissioner examines the vertical, horizontal and environmental causes of violence, death and serious injury in situations of deprivation of liberty. The High Commissioner then considers measures that should be taken to address such incidents. 1 2 2 Submissions were received from: Austria, Guatemala, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), the Conseil National des Droits l’Homme (Algeria), the Defensor del Pueblo de la Nación (Argentina), the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (Cameroon), the Defensoría del Pueblo (Ecuador), the Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia, the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights (Hungary), the Ombudsman (Luxembourg), the Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Distrito Federal (Mexico), Amnesty International, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, the Association nationale de promotion et protection des droits de l’homme (Cameroon), the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law – Monash University, Harm Reduction International, the Howard League, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, the Institute for NGO Research and Penal Reform International. See A/68/261.