A/HRC/22/26 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 17 December 2012 Original: English Human Rights Council Twenty-second 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 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Summary The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 19/19. The report highlights relevant developments that have taken place since the last report of the High Commissioner on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, notably through initiatives of the General Assembly at its sixtyseventh session; relevant developments within the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF); other recent activities of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; as well as relevant recent activities of the Security Council Committee and its Executive Directorate. The report then raises some of the challenges to due process and the right to fair trial in the counter-terrorism context. Observations, as well as challenges and good practice recommendations, are distilled as illustrative highlights of the discussions at the first three regional expert symposia organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, as Chair of the CTITF Working Group on Protecting Human Rights While Countering Terrorism, in collaboration with the CTITF Office. GE.12-18827