A/HRC/DEC/22/117 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 15 April 2013 Original: English Human Rights Council Twenty-second session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Decision adopted by the Human Rights Council 22/117. High-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty At its 48th meeting, on 21 March 2013, the Human Rights Council decided to adopt the text below: “The Human Rights Council, Reaffirming the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Recalling also General Assembly resolutions 62/149 of 18 December 2007, 63/168 of 18 December 2008, 65/206 of 21 December 2010 and 67/176 of 20 December 2012 on the question of a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, Recalling further all previous resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights on the question of the death penalty, the last of which was resolution 2005/59 of 20 April 2005, Recalling Human Rights Council decision 18/117 of 28 September 2011, Taking note of the reports of the Secretary-General on the question of the death penalty, the latest of which highlights the significant developments towards the universal abolition of the death penalty and some noticeable steps towards restricting its use in countries that have retained it, and also reminds those States that still intend to implement the death penalty of the need to protect the rights of those facing the death penalty, in particular, in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,1  The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of 1 GE.13-13083 the Council on its twenty-second session (A/HRC/22/2), chap. I. See A/HRC/21/29.