A/HRC/4/78 page 6 adopted on 20 October 2006,6 the Committee did not find a violation of article 6, despite finding a violation of article 14, as the Supreme Court had already commuted the author’s death sentence prior to the submission of the case to the Committee. For this reason, the Committee considered the issue of the violation of the author’s son’s right to life moot (CCPR/C/88/D/1057/2002, para. 7.3). IV. IMPLEMENTATION OF SAFEGUARDS GUARANTEEING PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THOSE FACING THE DEATH PENALTY, PAYING SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE IMPOSITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY ON PERSONS YOUNGER THAN 18 YEARS OF AGE AT THE TIME OF THE OFFENCE 15. The safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty establish that, inter alia: (a) capital punishment may be imposed only for the most serious crimes; (b) the right to benefit from a lighter penalty if, subsequent to the commission of the crime, provision is made by law to this effect; (c) persons below 18 years of age at the time they committed the crime should not be sentenced to death and the death sentence should not be carried out on pregnant women, new mothers, or persons who have become insane; (d) capital punishment may be imposed only when guilt is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of facts; (e) the death sentence may be carried out only pursuant to a final judgement rendered by a competent court after a legal process which gives all possible safeguards to ensure a fair trial, including the right of a defendant to adequate legal assistance; (f) the right to appeal against the death sentence to a court of higher jurisdiction must be granted; (g) the right to seek pardon or commutation of sentence must be granted; (h) capital punishment shall not be carried out pending any appeal or other recourse procedure; and (i) when capital punishment occurs, it shall be carried out so as to inflict minimum suffering. 16. In China, under legislation adopted during 2006 which comes into effect on 1 January 2007, all death penalties handed down by provincial courts must be reviewed and ratified by the Supreme People’s Court.7 17. The Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Council requested the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions to monitor the implementation of existing international standards on safeguards and restrictions relating to the imposition of capital punishment. The Special Rapporteur has continued to take action in situations where there was concern that internationally recognized standards were being violated and where the application of the death penalty may have amounted to a violation of the right to life. With a view to establishing a constructive dialogue with Governments, communications were sent, inter alia, in cases in which defendants were reportedly sentenced to death following the application of laws or trial proceedings falling short of international fair trial standards; when 6 7 Communication No. 1057/2002, Kornetov v. Uzbekistan. “China: Review of death penalty by Supreme Court welcome, but abolition needed”, 31 October 2006, Amnesty International, press release.