A/HRC/25/33 I. Introduction 1. Pursuant to resolution 22/11, the Human Rights Council held a panel discussion, on 11 September 2013, at its twenty-fourth session, on the human rights of children of parents sentenced to the death penalty or executed, with a particular focus on the ways and means to ensure the full enjoyment of their rights. 2. Based on the request of the Human Rights Council, the panel discussion aimed to: (a) examine the negative impact of the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty on the human rights of children whose parents are sentenced to the death penalty or executed; (b) promote better understanding of the international human rights norms and standards relevant to the rights of those children; and (c) discuss the protection and assistance that those children may require in the enjoyment of their human rights. 3. The panel discussion was chaired by the President of the Human Rights Council, Remigiusz Henczel, and moderated by Bertrand de Crombrugghe, Permanent Representative of Belgium at the United Nations Office in Geneva. It was opened by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Flavia Pansieri. A statement was delivered on behalf of Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children. The panellists were: Jorge Candona Llorens, member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child; Sandra Jones, Associate Professor, Rowan University (United States of America), Nisreen Zerikat, National Centre for Human Rights (Jordan), Francis Ssubi, Executive Director, Wells for Hope (Uganda). 4. The present summary was prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) pursuant to the request of the Human Rights Council in resolution 22/11 that it prepare a report on the outcome of the panel discussion in the form of a summary, and to present it to the Council at its twenty-fifth session. II. Statements by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral on Violence against Children 5. In her opening statement, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that developments over recent years in all regions of the world indicated a growing trend towards abolition of the death penalty. Many States had acknowledged that the death penalty undermined human dignity, and that its abolition contributed to the enhancement, progressive development and full enjoyment of human rights by all. The Deputy High Commissioner further noted that several international and regional human rights instruments prohibited the use of capital punishment or encouraged its abolition and/or strictly limited its application. In particular, the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, to date ratified by 78 States and signed by 36, provides that no one within the jurisdiction of a State party to the Optional Protocol shall be executed. In States which had not abolished the death penalty, international human rights law required, as a minimum, full compliance with the restrictions prescribed in the Covenant and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. According to article 6 of the Covenant, the use of the death penalty shall be limited to the “most serious crimes”. In addition, States must ensure that the guarantees of a fair trial and due process as prescribed in article 14 of the Covenant are strictly complied with. Article 6 of the Covenant, as well as article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, provide that the death penalty shall not be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age. Furthermore, article 6 of the Covenant 3