2. OSCE COMMITMENTS RELATING TO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Through the 1989 Vienna Concluding Document and the 1990 Copenhagen
Document, the issue of capital punishment was introduced to the catalogue of
CSCE/OSCE human dimension commitments. With the adoption of the Vienna and
Copenhagen Documents, the participating States committed themselves
•
to impose the death penalty, where not abolished, “only for the most serious
crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the commission of the
crime and not contrary to their international commitments” (Vienna Document,
“Questions relating to Security in Europe”, paragraph 24);
•
to keep the question of capital punishment under consideration (ibid.);
•
to co-operate on the issue within relevant international organizations (ibid.);
•
to exchange information on the question of the abolition of the death penalty
(Copenhagen Document, paragraph 17.7);
•
to make available to the public information regarding the use of the death penalty
(ibid., paragraph 17.8).3
These commitments were subsequently reaffirmed by the participating States at the
Moscow Meeting (1991), the Helsinki Summit (1992), and the Budapest Summit
(1994). In accordance with paragraph 17.7 of the Copenhagen Document, the question
of the abolition of the death penalty has been put on the agenda of the regular OSCE
Review Conferences and Human Dimension Implementation Meetings. A number of
recommendations have emerged from these meetings, although these have no formal
or binding status. The recommendations include the introduction of measures aimed at
facilitating the exchange of information on the abolition of the death penalty, asking
the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to act as a
clearing-house for such information, and the development by ODIHR and OSCE
missions of projects aimed at raising awareness against recourse to capital
punishment. To date these recommendations have not significantly been translated
into concrete action.
The Copenhagen Document also explicitly refers to other international standards
relating to the death penalty which are dealt with in the following Chapter, namely:
•
the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (paragraph 17.2);
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