The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2021 constitutes an increasing reputational risk, and abolition can become an important matter not only of domestic but also foreign policy. International relations come under particular strain when citizens are at risk of the death penalty abroad. As detailed in previous background papers, the death penalty inevitably leads to violations of both the right to life and the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment.135 Criminal justice systems that use capital punishment cause severe mental and physical suffering not only to the person concerned, but also to their family, victims’ family members, as well as the many other individuals involved in carrying out executions. A multi-pronged strategy involving coalitions of national and international organizations is needed, with strong political leadership prepared to push abolition forward, through increased transparency and public discussion, to change public attitudes and depoliticise the death penalty. In this respect, it is hoped that the good practices from different OSCE participating States mentioned in this background paper provide translatable models to ­other jurisdictions. 135 OSCE ODIHR, The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Papers, op. cit., note 5: the ODIHR background paper on the situation of the death penalty 2016, focused on the relation between capital punishment and the prohibition of torture in the OSCE area. In 2017, the background paper included a thematic focus on children of parents sentenced to death or executed and the prohibition of torture or ill-treatment. The 2018 paper focused on developments related to methods of execution, including lethal injections and new drug combinations used in the United States and the lack of transparency and secrecy surrounding executions in Belarus in relation to the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. In its 2019 report, ODIHR put an emphasis on challenging the arguments used to retain or eventually reintroduce the death penalty and explored the ways in which the death penalty violates the right to life. The 2020 background paper focused on the inherent arbitrariness of the death penalty and how it either procedurally or substantively can violate the right to life or prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment. 36