A/HRC/25/33 E. Children of parents facing the death penalty in foreign States 29. Various delegations stated some of their citizens were facing the death penalty in other countries. Children who were in the same country as the sentenced parents might need help to be repatriated to the country of origin, or stay near the parent, depending on various factors, such as the child’s age and the availability of suitable carers. In that regard, some delegations also urged States to fully respect the provision of consular assistance to foreign nationals who were sentenced abroad. V. Concluding remarks and recommendations 30. In their concluding remarks, the panelists emphasized that the best option would be abolishing the death penalty; however, where that was not yet the case, it was important to develop measures to minimize the harm suffered by the children of parents sentenced to death or executed. Some 193 States had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which sets out the best interests of the child as the primary consideration. All States, by adopting the necessary measures, must ensure that children’s rights were taken into consideration during sentencing. The panellists also concurred with various delegations that there was a need for treaty bodies and the Human Rights Council to think more about how the best interest of the child could be evaluated in accordance with the provision of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Furthermore, the panellists also emphasized that it was necessary to provide support and advice to the remaining parent, caregivers and civil society groups, and there was also a need to involve schools in the issue, as schools were suitable institutions at which children could get significant support. 31. The following recommendations were made for further action by the Human Rights Council and other United Nations human rights entities, including the relevant treaty bodies: (a) Convene an expert seminar, with United Nations experts and practitioners, in order to investigate the issue further, including a full examination of the applicable human rights framework, to enable all relevant international human rights treaty bodies and special procedures to engage with the issues, as well as to provide guidance to States and other bodies; (b) Develop further guidance regarding the form of assistance referred to in articles 9 and 20 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular by the Committee on the Rights of the Child drafting a general comment to elaborate on the issue; (c) Provide due attention to protection of all children from all forms of violence in the context of the current development of the post-2015 agenda, as this could contribute to social progress and the realization of the Millennium Development Goals; (d) Conduct further research both to understand the scale of the problem for those affected and the issues that individual children of parents sentences to death experience; and what States, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations and other stakeholders can do to address challenges in the full possible informed and transparent national and international debates, including on the obligations of States pertaining to the use of the death penalty”. 10