The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). The protocols entered into force in September 2014, abolishing the death penalty in Poland in all circumstances.10 On 19 July 2013, Latvia’s accession to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR entered into force.11 Many OSCE participating States continued their initiatives aimed at supporting and strengthening the international campaign against the death penalty. In responses to the ODIHR questionnaire on the death penalty, Andorra, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Romania, San Marino, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom indicated their firm support for resolutions calling for a global moratorium and abolition of the death penalty, and detailed their active engagement in outreach activities aimed at specific retentionist countries and in organizing conferences and seminars on the subject.12 On 2 October 2013, as part of the OSCE HDIM, representatives of participating States and civil society, among others, exchanged views on the question of the abolition of the death penalty. While some participating States noted that the application of the death penalty does not contradict international human rights norms, the overwhelming majority of participants called for the complete abolition of the death penalty in the OSCE region and stressed the importance of the continued debate with retentionist states and the public on the issue. The role of civil society and intergovernmental organizations in this debate was further discussed at an HDIM side event co-sponsored by Andorra, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, San Marino and the EU.13 On 10-11 April 2014 in Vienna, at the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting (SHDM) on the prevention of torture, some participants pointed at the linkages between torture and the death penalty, and underlined that there is no proven correlation between the death penalty and the deterrence of crime. The SHDM side event “Combating torture and abolishing the death penalty in the OSCE region: two sides of the same coin?”, organized by Andorra, Norway, Serbia, Kazakhstan, San Marino and the EU on 11 April 2014, provided a forum for a more focused discussion of the death row phenomenon and methods of execution, among other relevant issues, in the context of international commitments concerning the right to life and the absolute prohibition of torture. In his video statement at the side 10  UN Treaty Collection, op. cit., note 1, and Council of Europe Treaty Office, Chart of Signatures and Ratifications, as of 16 August 2014, <http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ChercheSig.asp?NT=187&CM=&DF=&CL=ENG>. 11  Response to the ODIHR questionnaire on the death penalty from the Republic of Latvia, received on 23 July 2014. 12  See section on Abolitionist States for more information. 13  A side event “Abolishing the death penalty in the OSCE region: the role of civil society and intergovernmental organizations” was held in Warsaw on 2 October 2013, during the HDIM. 7