A/HRC/21/26 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 13 August 2012 Original: English Human Rights Council Twenty-first session Agenda items 2 and 3 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the protection of human rights of juveniles deprived of their liberty Summary The present report is submitted pursuant to resolution 18/12 of the Human Rights Council. It provides an analysis of the human rights legal framework applicable to children deprived of their liberty. On the basis of the work of relevant human rights mechanisms, it further reviews the implementation by States of their legal obligations and concludes that, while international human rights law provides a comprehensive legal framework regulating the rights of children in the administration of justice, in particular when deprived of their liberty, a number of implementation gaps remain. Among the gaps, the report identifies in particular the lack of adequate conditions of detention; the imposition of certain penalties prohibited in international human rights law; the lack of monitoring and complaint mechanisms; and the inadequacy of training of personnel dealing with children deprived of their liberty. The report concludes that States should comply with their human rights obligations to protect children from ill-treatment and to respect the dignity and needs of children deprived of their liberty. States should also observe their obligation to ensure that children are not subjected to death penalty, life imprisonment without parole, or corporal punishment. Furthermore, the report concludes that States should establish or strengthen monitoring, complaint and other safeguard procedures in accordance with international norms and standards. Finally, it highlights that States must ensure that professionals working with children are competent and well-trained, in line with international standards on the qualification, selection, recruitment, training and remuneration of such personnel. GE.12-15906