A/HRC/21/65 I. Introduction 1. On 25 and 26 June 2012, the Human Rights Council panel discussion on women’s human rights took place pursuant to resolution 6/30, in which the Council decided to incorporate sufficient and adequate time, at minimum an annual full-day meeting, to discuss the human rights of women, including measures that can be adopted by States and other stakeholders, to address human rights violations experienced by women. 2. In resolution 17/11 the Human Rights Council decided to include in the annual fullday discussion on women’s human rights, at its twentieth session, the theme of remedies, with a focus on transformative and culturally sensitive reparations for women who have been subjected to violence. The Council, in its resolution 20/12, welcomed the 2012 annual discussion on women’s rights, and in paragraph 11, requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare a summary report of the proceedings, including conclusions and recommendations made by participants, to be submitted to the Council at its twenty-first session. 3. Pursuant to resolution 17/11, OHCHR organized two panels: one on remedies and reparations for women who have been subjected to violence (Panel I) and one on protecting women human rights defenders (Panel II). Panel I discussions focused on promising practices and challenges in addressing issues and measures taken to provide effective, prompt, just, transformative and culturally sensitive reparations for women who have been subjected to violence in different contexts. Panel II focused on women human rights defenders; participants discussed existing efforts and practices with regard to prevention and the protection of women human rights defenders, including the adoption of national plans and development of gender-specific mechanisms. 4. The following summary of discussions sets out the main issues raised during the discussions, including conclusions and recommendations which could be useful to the continuing consideration of the theme of reparations for women who experience violence. The present summary is aimed at capturing the main points raised by the panellists. As separate but related issues were addressed throughout the course of the annual full-day discussions, the summary presents a separate record of the discussions for the two panels and groups them under specific themes. II. Panel I: Remedies and reparations for women who have been subjected to violence A. Opening statements 5. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, opened the discussion by recalling Human Rights Committee general comment No. 31 (2004) on the nature of the general legal obligation on States parties to the Covenant, in which the Committee stated that without reparations, the obligation of States to provide effective remedies was not discharged (para. 16). She stressed that in addition to compensation, reparations encompassed restitution, rehabilitation, measures of satisfaction and guarantees of nonrepetition. The High Commissioner highlighted and welcomed progress in the area of the conceptualization of gender-sensitive reparations, including the 2007 Nairobi Declaration 3