A/HRC/8/11 page 6 II. ENFORCEMENT OF THE DEATH PENALTY 15. According to the available figures, at least 7,208 persons were sentenced to death and at least 2,843 prisoners were executed during 2006 and 2007.4 III. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS 16. On 18 December 2007, the General Assembly adopted resolution 62/149 entitled “Moratorium on the use of the death penalty”. In the resolution, the Assembly inter alia called on “all States that still maintain the death penalty … to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty”. In doing so, it recalled “the important results accomplished by the former Commission on Human Rights on the question of the death penalty” and envisaged “that the Human Rights Council could continue to work on this issue”. Under the terms of the resolution, the Secretary-General is to report to the Assembly at its sixty-third session on the resolution’s implementation. In a note verbale addressed to the Secretary-General dated 2 February 2008, the Permanent Missions to the United Nations in New York of 58 member States expressed, inter alia, their “persistent objection to any attempt to impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty or its abolition in contravention to existing stipulations under international law”.5 17. In his report to the sixty-second session of the Commission on Human Rights in March 2006,6 the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions again considered the issue of lack of transparency in relation to the death penalty, and its impact on those facing the death penalty, their families, public debate and effective monitoring. In his report to the fifth session of the Human Rights Council in March 2008,7 the Special Rapporteur addressed two aspects of the application of the death penalty. The first was the requirement of human rights law that the death penalty should be imposed only for the “most serious crimes”, on which the Special Rapporteur concluded that “the death penalty can only be imposed in cases where it can be shown that there was an intention to kill which resulted in the loss of life”. The second aspect was the mandatory imposition of the death penalty, on which the Special Rapporteur concluded that such a practice risks cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and the arbitrary deprivation of life. 18. The Human Rights Committee continues to address the question of the death penalty under the ICCPR in both concluding observations following examination of State party reports and in considering individual communications under the First Optional Protocol to the Covenant. In its 4 Amnesty International, “The death penalty worldwide: developments in 2006” (ACT 50/005/2007), p. 6 and “The death penalty worldwide: developments in 2007” (ACT 50/002/2008), p. 13. 5 A/62/658. 6 E/CN.4/2006/53 and E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.3. 7 A/HRC/4/20.