A/HRC/18/20 Mongolia and Poland. The Human Rights Committee welcomed the ratification of Estonia of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, which entered into force in 2004 (CCPR/C/EST/CO/3, para. 4). It also encouraged Cameroon, Jordan and Poland to ratify the Second Optional Protocol.37 The Committee welcomed the adoption of a constitutional provision enshrining the principle of the abolition of the death penalty in Belgium (CCPR/C/BEL/CO/5, para. 4) and encouraged Cameroon to abolish the death penalty, or at least to formalize the de facto moratorium on the death penalty (CCPR/C/CMR/CO/4, para. 14). It continued to welcome the de facto moratorium on the death penalty in place in Jordan since April 2007 (CCPR/C/JOR/CO/4, para. 3) and expressed its concern that the death penalty had yet to be abolished de jure in Mongolia, although it welcomed the moratorium on the execution of death sentences (CCPR/C/MNG/CO/5, para. 6). 40. In two recent individual cases, the Human Rights Committee reiterated that the imposition of a death sentence after a trial that did not meet the fair trial requirements amounted to a violation of article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.38 In another case, involving the refusal by the authorities of Kyrgyzstan to provide information on the number of individuals sentenced to death in the country, the Committee reiterated that the specific information sought by the author, that is, the number of individuals sentenced to death, was considered to be of public interest.39 The Human Rights Committee considered that the general public has a legitimate interest in having access to information on the use of the death penalty and that the State party (Kyrgyzstan) had failed to justify the restrictions imposed on the exercise of the author’s right to have access to information on the application to the death penalty held by public bodies. The Committee found, therefore, a violation of article 19, paragraph 2, of the Covenant. 41. The Committee on the Rights of the Child also made reference to the death penalty with regard to four States parties during the period under review: Belarus, Guatemala, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Sudan (under both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict). The Committee recommended that Belarus and Guatemala ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.40 In its concluding observations on the report of Sudan, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed serious concerns that, despite the adoption of the Child Act (2010), which prohibits the passing of the death sentence on children, under article 36 of the interim Constitution of Sudan, the death penalty might be imposed on persons below the age of 18 in cases of retribution or hudud.41 The Committee was also concerned at recent reports that the death penalty continues to be carried out on children. It reminded Sudan that the application of the death penalty to children is a grave violation of articles 6 and 37 (a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and urged Sudan to ensure that the death penalty is not carried out on 37 38 39 40 41 CCPR/C/CMR/CO/4, para. 14; CCPR/C/JOR/CO/4, para. 20; CCPR/C/POL/CO/6, para. 11. See communications No. 1304/2004, Khoroshenko v. Russian Federation, Views adopted on 29 March 2011; and No. 1503/2006, Akhadov v. Kyrgyzstan, Views adopted on 25 March 2011. In accordance with resolutions 2003/67 and 2004/67 of the Commission on Human Rights on the question of the death penalty, and in accordance with the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (29 June 1990). See communication No. 1470/2006, Toktakunov v. Kyrgyzstan, Views adopted on 28 March 2011. CRC/C/BLR/CO/3-4, para. 74; CRC/C/GTM/CO/3-4 para. 103. CRC/C/SDN/CO/3-4, para. 35. Article 36, paragraph 2 of the Interim National Constitution of the Republic of Sudan 2005 states : “The death penalty shall not be imposed on a person under the age of eighteen or a person who has attained the age of seventy except in cases of retribution or hudud”. 11