Friends celebrate Geneva success
QUNO celebrate a significant breakthrough
Friends at the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva are celebrating a significant breakthrough over a long-standing concern. The UN has announced that in September, for the first time ever, it will discuss the issue of children with a parent on death row. The subject has been an important focus of work at QUNO.
The Human Rights Council, where the world’s governments meet to discuss human rights, has decided, without a vote, to consider the effect on children of having a parent sentenced to death or executed.
‘This is a major step forward in considering the wider impacts of the death penalty’, said Rachel Brett of QUNO. The office has worked on this issue since 2011.
She added: ‘Having a parent on death row or executed can affect children for the rest of their lives, but is rarely if ever considered by officials.’
The UN decision will enable a panel discussion, with expert speakers addressing the assembled diplomats. The resolution that mandated the discussion also acknowledged the negative impact of a parental death sentence on children and urged countries ‘to provide those children with the protection and assistance they may require’.
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