The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2018 a similar message on 31 May 2017.108 On 9 May 2017, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Turkish citizens living in Germany would not be allowed to vote in any referendum on reinstating the death penalty.109 Participating States’ engagement in national or international activities relevant to the issue of the death penalty: On the international level: All 57 OSCE participating States are members of the United Nations. On 18 September 2017, during the United Nations General Assembly Ministerial Week in New York, a Global Alliance for Torture-Free Trade was launched, bringing together countries from around the world.110 Mongolia and the EU, as well as other OSCE participating States involved in the Alliance, confirmed their commitment to end the trade in goods used to carry out the death penalty. The following 43 OSCE participating States participate in the Alliance: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.111 On 29 September 2017, after putting the death penalty at the heart of its discussion, the 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council ended with the adoption of Resolution 36/17 on the death penalty.112 The resolution was adopted by recorded vote of 27 to 13, with seven abstentions. The following 14 OSCE participating States voted in favor of the resolution: Albania, Belgium, Croatia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Mongolia, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The United States voted against. Recognizing that the death penalty is “a form of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or 108  “Juncker: Death penalty in Turkey would mean end to EU accession talks”, Euractiv, 1 June 2017, <https:// www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/juncker-death-penalty-in-turkey-would-mean-end-to-euaccession-talks/>. 109  “Merkel rules out allowing German Turks say on death penalty”, Euractiv, 9 May, 2017, <https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/merkel-rules-out-allowing-german-turks-say-on-death-penalty/>. 110  “The Alliance for Torture-Free Trade to stop the trade in goods used for capital punishment and torture”, 6 September 2017, European External Action Service, <https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/mongolia/31699/alliance-torture-free-trade-stop-trade-goods-used-capital-punishment-and-torture_en> 111  Political Declaration, Global Alliance to end trade in goods used for capital punishment and torture, 19 September 2017, New York, <http://torturefreetrade.org/documents/170918_Political-Declaration-Torture-Free. pdf>; for more information on the Alliance see http://torturefreetrade.org/ 112  A/HRC/RES/36/17, Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 29 September 2017, The question of the death penalty, 5 October 2017, <https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G17/291/39/PDF/ G1729139.pdf?OpenElement> 24