Introduction 1. Overview OSCE participating States have made a number of commitments regarding the death penalty, including consideration of the question of capital punishment, exchange of information on the question of the abolition of the death penalty and the provision of information on the use of the death penalty to the public.1 Where the death penalty is still in use, participating States have agreed that it can be imposed only for the most serious crimes and only in line with international commitments.2 In accordance with these commitments and its mandate, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) monitors trends and new developments regarding human rights standards and practices among OSCE participating States related to the death penalty. The findings are presented each year in the Background Paper on the Death Penalty in the OSCE Area.3 The background paper is based on information gathered by ODIHR on the situation of the death penalty in all 57 OSCE participating States during the reporting period, incorporating information from international and regional human rights bodies, non-governmental organizations and media reports. The reporting period for ODIHR’s 2019 background paper covers developments from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019. This year’s edition includes a thematic focus on the relationship between the death penalty and the right to life, as highlighted in the new General Comment No. 36 of 30 October 2018 of the United Nations Human Rights Committee on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The new General Comment on Article 6 of the ICCPR is relevant to the 1  “Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the OSCE”, OSCE, 29 June 1990, Copenhagen, paras. 17.7 and 17.8, <http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/14304>. See also: “Concluding Document of the Third Follow-up Meeting, Vienna, 4 November 1986 to 19 January 1989”, OSCE, (hereafter, “Vienna Document 1989”); “Document of the Sixteenth Meeting of the Ministerial Council Helsinki 2008”, OSCE, (hereafter, “Helsinki Document 2008”). 2  “Vienna Document 1989”, para. 24, op. cit., note 1. 3  “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2016”, OSCE/ODIHR, 21 September 2016, <https:// www.osce.org/odihr/266186>.“The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2017”, OSCE/ODIHR, 19 September 2017, <https://www.osce.org/odihr/343116>. “The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2018”, OSCE/ODIHR, 12 September 2018, <https://www.osce.org/odihr/393728>. 5