The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2005

This paper provides an overview of international standards on the death penalty, as well as usage of capital punishment in the OSCE area. It covers the period from 30 June 2004 to 30 June 2005.

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.

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 2004 to 30 June 2005.