A/HRC/39/19 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 14 September 2018 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-ninth session 10–28 September 2018 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 Question of the death penalty Report of the Secretary-General Summary Pursuant to Human Rights Council decision 18/117, the present report is submitted to update previous reports on the question of the death penalty. In his report the SecretaryGeneral confirms that the trend towards the universal abolition of the death penalty is continuing. During the reporting period, initiatives limiting the use of the death penalty and implementing the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty were also recorded in several States. A minority of States continued to use the death penalty, in contravention of international human rights law. As requested by the Council in its resolution 22/11, the report also includes information on the human rights of children of parents sentenced to the death penalty or executed.  The present report was submitted after the deadline in order to reflect the most recent developments. GE.18-15291(E) 