A/HRC/4/78 page 7 capital punishment was imposed for crimes that did not appear to fall within the category of the most serious crimes; and when the death penalty was imposed by special courts and under special legislation which failed to provide due process of law. 18. In the period under review, the Special Rapporteur has paid special attention to the issue of transparency and the imposition of the death penalty. He dedicated a full report to the issue (E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.3) in which he analyses in detail the legal basis of the obligation to be transparent in such matters. In particular, the Special Rapporteur observed that in a “considerable number of countries information concerning the death penalty is cloaked in secrecy. No statistics are available as to executions, or as to the numbers or identities of those detained on death row, and little if any information is provided to those who are to be executed or to their families” (E/CN.4/2005/7, para. 57). He observed that such secrecy is incompatible with human rights standards in various respects, and concluded that “countries that have maintained the death penalty are not prohibited by international law from making that choice, but they have a clear obligation to disclose the details of their application of the penalty” (ibid., para. 59). 19. During 2006, the Committee on the Rights of the Child continued its discussion, during the consideration of States parties’ reports, about the abolition of the death penalty for crimes committed by persons under the age of 18 years. In its concluding observations on the report of Saudi Arabia, the Committee expressed its deep concern that judges presiding over criminal cases involving children in Saudi Arabia are given the discretion to determine that children have reached majority before 18 years. The Committee saw this as a serious violation of the fundamental rights under article 37 of the Convention. The Committee urged the State party to abolish as a matter of the highest priority the death penalty as a sentence imposed on persons for crimes committed before the age of 18 (see CRC/C/SAU/CO/2, paras. 32-33). In its concluding observations on the report of the United States of America, the Human Rights Committee regretted the lack of information and recommended that the State party review federal and state legislation with a view to restricting the number of offences carrying the death penalty. Expressing concern at the outcome of certain studies, the Committee recommended that the State party assess the extent to which the death penalty is disproportionately imposed on ethnic minorities and on low-income population groups, as well as the reasons for this, and adopt all appropriate measures to address the problem. In the meantime, it was recommended that the State party put a moratorium on capital sentences, bearing in mind the desirability of abolishing the death penalty (see CCPR/C/USA/CO/3, para. 29). V. CONCLUSION 20. The trend towards abolition and restriction in the application of the death penalty has continued since the last report prepared on this subject. During 2006 the number of abolitionist countries for all crimes has increased. Four States ratified the Second Optional Protocol to ICCPR and four others ratified Protocol No. 13 to ECHR providing for the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances. Six additional States became parties to ICCPR. -----