1. INTRODUCTION
There has never been a formal consensus within the OSCE concerning the abolition of
capital punishment, and countries that apply the death penalty with stringent
procedural safeguards and due process of law do not violate OSCE commitments.
However, the worldwide trend toward abolition has also been reflected within the
borders of the OSCE area. At a global level the de jure or de facto abolitionist
countries by 2001 clearly outnumbered those retaining capital punishment, by 109 to
86. A similar and even clearer trend continued to be discernible within the OSCE
area. As of 30 June 2001, only 14 participating States retain capital punishment in
their legal codes, as opposed to 22 in 1997. Between January 1998 and June 2001,
nine participating States abolished the death penalty completely, four abolished it for
ordinary crimes only, and two States announced a moratorium on executions.
In accordance with paragraph 17.7 of the Copenhagen Document, in which the
participating States committed themselves to exchange information on the abolition of
the death penalty and to keep this question under consideration, this report describes
and analyses recent events and developments related to capital punishment within the
OSCE area against the backdrop of relevant OSCE and other international
commitments and standards.
The first two main parts of this report (Chapters 2 and 3) consequently provide an
overview of OSCE commitments and other key international standards and
instruments relating to capital punishment. The third main part (Chapter 4) is devoted
to the specific situations and main developments in non-abolitionist participating
States. Each country entry consists of an outline of the legal basis for the application
of the death penalty, trends towards abolition, and statistical data (if available)
concerning the number of death sentences, prisoners on death row, and executions. A
full-text reproduction of all relevant OSCE commitments and a table providing death
penalty-related information on all participating States, including ratification details,
are attached in Annexes 1 and 2.
The country entries, as well as the table entries, are listed in alphabetical order. Given
the reluctance of a number of participating States to meet their commitment to make
available to the public information concerning the death penalty, some of the country
entries remain rather fragmentary. It must be stressed therefore that the lack of
reference to issues addressed elsewhere in a given country entry does not imply that
these issues are of no relevance in the participating State in question.
This report is based on material received from various sources, including OSCE field
missions, other international organizations such as the Council of Europe and the
United Nations, as well as several non-governmental organizations, in particular
Amnesty International, and media reports. Unless otherwise stated, it covers the
period from 1 January 1998 to 30 June 2001.
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