The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2018 intentional killing. The death penalty should not be imposed for “drug offences”, “consensual adult sex”, “blasphemy” or any other acts that do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes”. States should abolish the mandatory death penalty, where it still exists. States must also ensure that the highest level of compliance with fair trial and other international human rights norms and standards are met in all death penalty cases. 73. The lack of data on the number of executions or individuals on death row is a serious impediment to debate on the abolition of capital punishment. It will also be important, for the effectiveness and transparency of such a debate, to ensure that the public has access to balanced information, including accurate information and statistics on criminality and the various effective ways to combat it, without resorting to capital punishment. 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 59