A/HRC/45/20 Arabia 218 and Kuwait 219 to abolish the death penalty for persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities and suspend all current death sentences. VI. Human rights of children of parents sentenced to the death penalty or executed 55. According to the Human Rights Committee, States should refrain from executing persons whose execution would lead to exceptionally harsh results for them and their families, such as parents of very young or dependent children. 220 56. In their submissions, Egypt indicated that birth certificates of children born in prison did not indicate where the child was born, while Iraq noted that children of executed fathers could inherit and children who were orphaned could access social assistance. Other submissions highlighted the impact on these children221 in Bahrain,222 Cameroon,223 India224 and Sri Lanka,225 and the extreme psychological distress, economic hardship, and social stigmatization they faced in Malawi. 226 Research on Indonesia 227 and Pakistan 228 further highlighted these concerns. The Quaker United Nations Office has recommended that, to avoid the extreme suffering experienced by children when a parent is sentenced to death or executed, States should implement ways to deal with crime without resorting to capital punishment.229 57. The Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that Bahrain provide any psychological and other support necessary to children whose parents had been sentenced to death or life imprisonment.230 The Committee urged Singapore to take the best interests of the child into consideration when issuing the death penalty, and provide psychological and other support necessary to children whose parents had been sentenced to death. 231 The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions stated that if a detained foreign national had children in the country of detention, consular officials must assess their situation and level of care, provide assistance, assist with regular prison visits and help repatriate the children, depending on circumstances. 232 The African Commission’s Working Group on the Death Penalty, Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Africa urged States to mitigate the effects of the death penalty on the children of persons sentenced to death or executed, by providing them with the necessary psychological and material support and assistance.233 On the World Day against the Death Penalty in 2019, dedicated to this issue, the European Union and the Council of Europe jointly highlighted the impact that the death penalty had on the children of people subjected to the death penalty. They observed that denying children and families a burial or cremation violated their human rights, notably their right to be free from cruel, inhuman 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 CRPD/C/SAU/CO/1, paras. 17–18. CRPD/C/KWT/CO/1, paras. 20–21. General comment No. 36, para. 49. Quaker United Nations Office and Advocates for Human Rights/World Coalition Against the Death Penalty submissions. Reprieve/Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy submission. Cornell Centre for Death Penalty Worldwide submission. Project 39A submission. Freedoms Collective/Reprieve submission. Community of Sant’Egidio /Reprieve submission. See www.ecpm.org/wp-content/uploads/rapportindon%C3%A9sie_gb.pdf, p. 79. See www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/pakistan740angweb-2.pdf, p. 32. See https://quno.org/sites/default/files/resources/QUNO_Protection%20of%20the%20Rights%20of%20 CPDSE_An%20Expert%20Legal%20Analysis.pdf, p. 30; see also https://quno.org/resource/2019/7/briefing-tools-unseen-victims. CRC/C/BHR/CO/4-6, para. 35. CRC/C/SGP/CO/4-5, para. 34. A/74/318, para. 101. See www.achpr.org/pressrelease/detail?id=442. 17