The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2006

While there is an increasing trend within the OSCE region towards abolition of the death penalty, those participating States that do retain it have undertaken a number of commitments regarding its use.

This background paper provides an overview of international standards on the death penalty that have been developed within the forums of the OSCE, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the European Union.

It also includes five essays on different approaches to the death penalty. In the first essay, Robert Badinter, a former minister of justice of France and a prominent advocate for abolition, discusses developments in the use of the death penalty in the context of the OSCE. The following four essays, written by contributors from Belarus, Poland, Tajikistan, and the United States, describe national processes, experiences, and arguments that led the authors' respective countries to their current position with regard to the death penalty.

The participating States that retain the death penalty have committed themselves to make information about its use available to the public. Through this background paper, the ODIHR is trying to facilitate the compliance of participating States with this commitment by providing a forum for the publication and dissemination of such information.

The information included on legal frameworks, statistics on sentences and executions, and information on compliance with international standards comes largely from participating States themselves.

The paper covers the period from 30 June 2005 to 30 June 2006.