A/HRC/45/20 and degrading treatment. Children who have lost parents because of executions suffer deep and lasting grief and trauma.234 VII. Conclusions and recommendations 58. The Secretary-General shares the view of the Human Rights Committee that the death penalty cannot be reconciled with full respect for the right to life. Abolition is desirable and necessary for the enhancement of human dignity and progressive development of human rights. The Secretary-General welcomes all measures taken towards limiting the application of, or abolishing, the death penalty, reaffirming the growing trend towards its progressive abolition and progress in the protection of the right to life. Upon abolition, States should ensure that death sentences are commuted without delay. States that continue to impose and implement death sentences should declare and implement a moratorium on executions with a view to abolition. 59. States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that have abolished the death penalty, including by becoming parties to the Second Optional Protocol, have an obligation not to reintroduce it. Where a long de jure or de facto moratorium on use of the death penalty has been observed, resuming its use could be contrary to the object and purpose of article 6 of the Covenant. The Secretary-General calls upon all States to fully respect their obligations under international human rights law. 60. Serious concerns still remain with regard to respect for applicable international law provisions, particularly the limitation of the death penalty to the most serious crimes, the exclusion of juvenile offenders from its scope, and due process guarantees. Retentionist States should impose the death penalty only for the “most serious crimes”, which has been consistently interpreted as crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing. It must never be imposed as a sanction for specific forms of nonviolent conduct such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery, and consensual same-sex relations. States should also refrain from using the death penalty for crimes not involving intentional killing, such as drug-related offences or overly broad terrorismrelated crimes. 61. The Secretary-General shares the view of the Human Rights Committee that the imposition of a death sentence at the conclusion of a trial in which due process and fair trial safeguards have not been respected constitutes a violation of the right to life. Pending abolition, States must ensure that legal guarantees and safeguards are effectively put in place and implemented, including the right to seek pardon and commutation through procedures that offer certain essential guarantees. 62. Even for the most serious crimes, the death penalty should never be mandatory. States that maintain the mandatory death penalty should abolish it, and a process that takes into account the personal circumstances of the offender and the particular circumstances of the offence, including its specific aggravating or attenuating elements, should be put in place for all those who were mandatorily sentenced to death. 63. International law prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on juvenile offenders. The Secretary-General urges States to review and amend legislation to ensure that legislation clearly prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on persons for a crime committed when they were under 18. States should immediately halt executions of juvenile offenders and resentence them, ensuring that they do not simply receive life sentences. 64. States that still use the death penalty should urgently ensure a protective environment for the children of parents sentenced to death or executed, preventing discrimination and stigmatization and providing them with assistance for their recovery and reintegration. States should also take measures to assist children of their nationals who may face the death penalty abroad. 234 18 See https://rm.coe.int/2019-joint-declaration-final-003-/16809818b6.