A/HRC/39/19 communication with the convicted person and the return of the body to the family for burial or to inform them of where the body was located, unless that was not in the best interests of the child. 47. In the context of a recent study by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children stated that while more research was urgently needed on the issue, the evidence available was sufficiently sound and convincing to recognize the urgency of ensuring a protective environment for such children.162 States should therefore take appropriate steps in that regard so as to prevent discrimination against children and provide them with the services and the recovery and reintegration measures they urgently required.163 VII. Conclusions and recommendations 48. The present report demonstrates that several countries have taken steps towards the abolition of the death penalty. The Secretary-General welcomes all measures undertaken by States towards limiting the application of, or abolishing, the death penalty. These measures constitute progress in the protection of the right to life and are important steps towards the universal abolition of the death penalty, reaffirming the growing trend towards the progressive abolition of this practice. States that continue to impose and implement death sentences should declare and implement a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. The Secretary-General also remains opposed to the cruel and dehumanizing practice of public executions and calls on the few States that maintain this practice to refrain from it. 49. States that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose it for the “most serious crimes”, which has been consistently interpreted as meaning intentional killing. He recalls that the death penalty must never be imposed as a sanction for specific forms of non-violent conduct such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual samesex 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. States should also ensure that persons with mental or intellectual disabilities are not sentenced to death. Laws and sentencing guidelines must be developed or amended to prohibit the imposition of the death sentence on such persons and their execution. 50. International law clearly prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on juvenile offenders. The Secretary-General urges States to review and amend legislation in line with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to ensure that legislation clearly prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on a person for a crime committed when he or she was under 18. States should immediately halt executions of juvenile offenders and resentence all juvenile offenders on death row, while ensuring that such individuals do not simply receive life sentences in place of execution. 51. States that still use the death penalty should recognize the urgency of ensuring a protective environment for the children of parents sentenced to death or executed, thereby preventing discrimination and stigma, and of 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. 52. The implementation of the death penalty without the requisite transparency makes it difficult, if not impossible, to assess whether it is being carried out in compliance with 162 163 16 See www.osce.org/odihr/343116?download=true, pp. 8−9. Ibid.