The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2019 Pope Francis confirmed that the Church teaches that the death penalty is inadmissible and that: “there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.”253 At the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2018, the death penalty was addressed in Working Session 5: Rule of law II.254 Several recommendations came out of this session: participating States should consider ratifying all international conventions and protocols on torture and ill-treatment, the abolition of the death penalty and the prevention of enforced disappearances; and they should follow the global trend toward abolition of the death penalty and abolish the death penalty by law. Although one group of participating States described the death penalty as cruel, inhuman and degrading in nature and called for its abolition, one participating State expressed respect for those advocating abolition, but stated that capital punishment was not prohibited under international law. On 11 October 2018, many states made statements at the OSCE Permanent Council regarding the World Day against the Death Penalty. Norway made a statement on behalf of Canada, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Mongolia and Switzerland, reminding all states that conditions of death row inmates can, in the worst cases, constitute a violation of the prohibition against torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.255 In this statement, these countries urged all other states, particularly in the OSCE region, to support the UN resolution 73/175 on a universal moratorium on the death penalty and reiterated their opposition towards the death penalty in all cases and without exception. The EU also made a statement on 11 October 2018, stating that the EU planned to co-host the 7th World Congress against the Death Penalty at the end of February 2019. The EU reaffirmed its “strong and unequivocal opposition” to the death penalty and reminded states that they should 253  “New revision of number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the death penalty – Rescriptum “ex Audentia S.mi”, Vatican press office, 2 August 2018, <https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/ pubblico/2018/08/02/180802a.html>. 254  OSCE ODIHR, “2018 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting”, September 2018, <https://www.osce. org/odihr/398840?download=true>. 255  “Statement on the occasion of the World Day against the Death Penalty”, OSCE Permanent Council, 11 October 2018, <https://www.osce.org/permanent-council/400142?download=true>. 49