Death_Penalty_2005_nowy.qxd 2005-09-08 17:00 Page 57 OTHER INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ON THE DEATH PENALTY 28 July 1995 and Council decision 2004/242 of 21 July 2004, which concludes that there is an encouraging trend towards the abolition and restriction of the use of the death penalty in most countries, but that much remains to be done in the implementation of the aforementioned safeguards in those countries that retain it; 5. Calls upon all States that still maintain the death penalty: (a) To abolish the death penalty completely and, in the meantime, to establish a moratorium on executions; (b) Progressively to restrict the number of offences for which the death penalty may be imposed and, at the least, not to extend its application to crimes to which it does not at present apply; (c) To make available to the public information with regard to the imposition of the death penalty and to any scheduled execution; (d) To provide to the Secretary-General and relevant United Nations bodies information relating to the use of capital punishment and the observance of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty; 6. Calls upon all States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that have not yet done so to consider acceding to or ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty; 7. Urges all States that still maintain the death penalty: (a) Not to impose it for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age; (b) To exclude pregnant women and mothers with dependent infants from capital punishment; (c) Not to impose the death penalty on a person suffering from any mental or intellectual disabilities or to execute any such person; (d) Not to impose the death penalty for any but the most serious crimes and only pursuant to a final judgement rendered by an independent and impartial competent court, and to ensure the right to a fair trial and the right to seek pardon or commutation of sentence; (e) To ensure that all legal proceedings, including those before special tribunals or jurisdictions, and particularly those related to capital offences, conform to the minimum procedural guarantees contained in article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; (f) To ensure also that the notion of “most serious crimes” does not go beyond intentional crimes with lethal or extremely grave consequences and that the death penalty is not imposed for non-violent acts such as financial crimes, religious practice or expression of conscience and sexual relations between consenting adults nor as a mandatory sentence; 57