The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area guards of due process. But its power stops at the life of the person it is condemning because no power can legitimately deprive a man or woman of what makes them human: their very life. And this first requirement holds true for all humanity. It appears therefore that the grounds for abolition are also linked to those for democracy. The death penalty has almost entirely disappeared in all democracies, admittedly with the notable exception of the United States. In Europe in particular, the death penalty has been banished, except in Belarus. What a moral victory that is, given the old continent’s tragic past, which was marked by so much bloodshed, genocide, and crimes against humanity. Today, peace reigns across the European continent, guaranteed by international organizations, the European Union, the Council of Europe, and also the OSCE. In this vast geopolitical zone, which brings together 700 million people, abolition of the death penalty is an internationally recognized principle, a democratic value that is guaranteed in the international order and to which numerous international conventions forbidding recourse to the death penalty bear testimony. The 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights did not prohibit the death penalty as such, but it did provide that it could only be applied for the most serious crimes, and it prohibited its use for juveniles under 18 and the execution of pregnant women. Again at the global level, the 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty abolished capital punishment while retaining the possibility to resort to it in times of war. The 1989 International Convention on the Rights of the Child also prohibited the death penalty for juveniles under 18. At the regional level, the 1983 Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and the 1990 Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty both abolished this sanction but retained the exception in times of war. Only Protocol No. 13 to the ECHR prohibits the death penalty at all times and in all circumstances. This general shift, this march towards abolition, is taking place because the death penalty is linked to an archaic justice system that kills and that has been revealed to be futile, unjust, and degrading on all occasions and in all places. The death penalty is futile. This has been demonstrated in all the studies conducted, notably at the Council of Europe, on the evolution of violent crime following abolition. In no state has abolition led to an increase of violent crime. The same result was found in states that moved to establish a moratorium on the pronouncement of the death penalty for a probationary period. This included in particular the United King-