A/HRC/38/44/Add.3 in line with their due diligence obligations. Where it is alleged that State actors are participating in patterns of extrajudicial killings, she calls on States to take immediate steps to ensure their security forces are abiding by human rights law and standards and to investigate all cases, and bring perpetrators to justice. 23. Cases of excessive use of force also feature prominently in the submissions received and cases taken up. These cases frequently concern the management of assemblies, 10 particularly the use of firearms against protestors. Cases have also been raised in relation to the use of excessive force during the arrest or apprehension of suspects. The Special Rapporteur recalls the importance of the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials in this context. She recalls in particular that intentional lethal use can only be resorted to when it is strictly unavoidable in order to protect life. She further highlights that, with regard to assemblies, the use of force by law enforcement officials should be exceptional, and assemblies should ordinarily be managed with no resort to force (A/HRC/31/66). A number of the communications concerned alleged excessive use of force in the context of the “war on drugs”. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur reminds that the aforementioned standards continue to apply in cases of internal political instability or any other public emergency and underlines that an individual’s use of drugs cannot constitute grounds for curtailing his or her rights. She notes that the Special Rapporteur on the right to health has observed that the “war-on-drugs” approach to drug not only fails to prevent health-related harms of drug use, but also fails to achieve genuine drug control (A/65/255). Furthermore, in the Outcome document unanimously adopted at 2016 Special Session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem in 2016, all Member States of the United Nations committed that drug programmes, strategies and policies must be implemented in accordance with States’ human rights obligations and with a view to promote the protection of and respect for human rights and the dignity of all individuals (A/RES/S-30/1). 24. During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur also sent communications to three non-State actors directly raising allegations of human rights violations related to due diligence/immunity, death threats and death penalty safeguards. 1.5 Groups addressed by communications 25. The graph below indicates the groups of people addressed in the communications sent by the Special Rapporteur by numbers of communications sent. Over a quarter of communications addressed human rights defenders and were sent in conjunction with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. The Special Rapporteur also continued to raise alleged violations of the right to life against journalists, bloggers and writers (in conjunction with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression). 26. The Special Rapporteur notes with serious concern that a number of submissions received and cases taken up concerned children. Many of these related to individuals who have been sentenced to death or executed for alleged crimes committed as children. 11 Other communications concerned attacks or killings or excessive use of force against children. 27. Five communications concerned refugees and migrants. Violations of the right to life of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants constitutes a crisis, characterized by mass casualties globally, a regime of impunity for its perpetrators and an overall tolerance for its fatalities, which needs urgent action. The Special Rapporteur calls on States, 10 11 An “assembly”, generally understood, is an intentional and temporary gathering in a private or public space for a specific purpose, and can take the form of demonstrations, meetings, strikes, processions, rallies or sit-ins with the purpose of voicing grievances and aspirations or facilitating celebrations (see A/HRC/20/27, para. 24, and A/HRC/31/66, para. 19). See paragraph 41 below. 11