57. Furthermore, Article 5 of the African Children‟s Charter prohibits the “pronouncement” of the death sentence for crimes committed by children. 58. States Parties must provide a child with information about whether a parent/primary caregiver is in detention with the possibility of being executed, and also what has happened to the remains of an executed mother/ parent. 18 States Parties that still retain the death penalty should observe the Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of those Facing the Death Penalty, as adopted by the UN Economic and Social Council and endorsed by consensus by the UN General Assembly in 1984, which sets out the most basis guarantees to be observed in death penalty cases. States Parties should also ensure that such prisoners are held in conditions that comply with those set out in the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. In addition, in States Parties that still retain the death penalty, it is of the utmost importance that it is not mandatory for any crime as this prevents, inter alia, consideration of the child‟s best interests when sentencing a parent or caregiver. Therefore, States Parties should consider including a provision in legislation to commute the sentences of prisoners who have spent more than a certain number of years on death row, without any final outcome of the appeals process or application for commutation or pardon, to an appropriate alternative sentence. 59. Finally, in jurisdictions where so-called “civil death” laws exist which provide that persons serving a certain amount of minimum and maximum sentence are “civilly dead” and may not enter into and/or exercise certain civil acts (for instance marriage) should not automatically be used to ban mothers from exercising their rights and responsibilities in relation to their children. In addition, although not directly related, it is important for States Parties to address through law reform the practice where by upon the death of the natural mother, the children of unwed fathers automatically become wards of the State, thereby invalidating a father's parental rights. 18 The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted resolution 19/37 on the rights of child. Paragraph 69(f) also addresses the situation when a mother/ parent is on death row. See Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/RES/19/37 available at http://ap.ohchr.org/Documents/dpage_e.aspx?b=10&se=126&t=11. See also United Nations Human Rights Council resolution 22/11. 23