A/HRC/27/26 members to deploying every effort towards the universal abolition of the death penalty and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. That commitment had been renewed in 2013 through the adoption of a resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights in the Community. 51. It was highlighted that, since the adoption of resolution 42 by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 1999, a number of African States had continued to advocate a moratorium on the death penalty through their support for the Commission’s Working Group on Death Penalty and Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings in Africa and General Assembly resolution 67/176 on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, and through calls for ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In that context, discussions had begun towards the development of an additional protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the abolition of the death penalty in Africa. 52. The importance of the International Commission against the Death Penalty was also highlighted. The establishment of the Commission in 2010 had been a multilateral initiative led by Spain. Its cross-regional composition and the international prestige of its members were of great value to the campaign for worldwide abolition. In particular, members could speak directly to the authorities of States that were facing challenges in the abolition of the death penalty. The Commission was currently supported by 18 countries representing all regions of the world. F. Ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 53. Several delegations stressed the importance of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, and called for its ratification. As of March 2014, the Protocol had been ratified by 78 States. It was emphasized that increased ratification of or accession to that Protocol was needed to advance the universal abolition of the death penalty. VI. Conclusion 54. In their concluding remarks, the panellists emphasized that the international community had a responsibility to move universal abolition of the death penalty forward. Discussions on the death penalty should continue at both the national and international levels. Such discussions should include voices from all parts of society, including the innocent people who had suffered wrongful convictions. Experiences of national, regional and international abolition efforts should also be shared. 55. States should intensify the campaign to sensitize all actors at every level, including the policy and grass-roots levels, so that more countries would support universal abolition. In that regard, commissioning research and studies on the prohibition of the use of the death penalty as a customary norm and on the human rights impact of the use of the death penalty could be considered. More transparent debates between States were also needed, in close cooperation with civil society and other actors, including parliamentarians. 56. States that had not yet abolished the death penalty should introduce moratoriums on executions with the aim of abolishing them. Those States which still continued to implement the death penalty must ensure the protection of the human rights of those facing the death penalty, pursuant to the relevant international norms and standards. 14