The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area 74. States that still use the death penalty on persons who committed crimes before the age of 18 must stop that practice. When the death penalty is abolished, they must avoid sentencing children to life imprisonment as an alternative punishment. States must take account of article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which explicitly requires that deprivation of liberty be used only as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. 75. The effects of the death penalty system in its entirety, including the social, economic and psychological impact on the children and family members of those executed or under a death sentence, must be further examined. 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, preventing discrimination and stigma, and providing them with assistance for their recovery and reintegration. Yearly supplement of the Secretary-General to his quinquennial report on capital punishment, A/HRC/30/18, Capital punishment and the implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty (16 July 2015) […] V. Conclusions and Recommendations 55. As the Secretary-General has noted on several occasions, the death penalty has no place in the twenty-first century. In the light of the evolution of international human rights law and jurisprudence and State practice, the imposition of the death penalty is incompatible with fundamental tenets of human rights, in particular human dignity, the right to life and the prohibition of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The application of the death penalty often also violates the right to equality and the principle of non-discrimination. The decision about whether to sentence a convict to death or to lesser punishment is often arbitrary and does not necessarily follow predictable, rational criteria. In that judicial lottery, the odds are often stacked against the poor, minorities and other common targets of discrimination, including women, foreign nationals and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons. 56. All measures aimed at ending the application of the death penalty are steps towards the enjoyment of the right to life. In its article 6, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted in 1966, referred to the abolition of the death penalty in terms that strongly suggest that it is desirable. In 1989, by adopting the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, States enshrined their stronger abolitionist stance 70