The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area On 10 October 2012, the Council of Europe and the European Union marked the World Day against the Death Penalty with a joint declaration calling upon all countries that still retain the death penalty in law or practice to abolish it under all circumstances.9 On 15 March 2013, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted resolution A/HRC/22/L.18 on the human rights of children with a parent sentenced to the death penalty or executed. The resolution calls upon states to provide such children with the required protection and assistance, and sets up a panel discussion on the issue at the Human Rights Council’s 24th session, in September 2013. On 20 March 2013, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/67/176 on the moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The resolution calls upon all states to ensure safeguards for those facing the death penalty, to make available information with regard to its use and to introduce a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing capital punishment. On 6 June 2013 in Guatemala, at the General Assembly session of the Organization of American States, Costa Rica presented a statement on behalf of several states urging Member States to sign and ratify, as appropriate, the American Convention on Human Rights and its Protocol to Abolish the Death Penalty.10 The evolving international debate on “the legality of the death penalty within the context of the fundamental concepts of human dignity and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” was brought into focus by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Mendez.11 In his report issued on 9 August 2012, the Special Rapporteur called upon all states to reconsider whether methods of execution, the death row phenomenon and the death penalty in general, either per se or as applied, constitute a violation of the absolute prohibition of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. He called upon all states not to expel, return or extradite a person to another state, where that person may face a real risk of being sentenced to death and subsequently subjected to detention on death row or executed in a manner that could cause severe pain and suffering. The Special Rapporteur called upon retentionist states to strictly observe conditions imposed by 9  European Union, A449/12, “Joint Declaration by Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Catherine Ashton, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on the European and World Day against the Death Penalty”, Brussels, 10 October 2012, <http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/ cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/132777.pdf>. 10  Forty-third regular session of the OAS General Assembly, AG/INF. 503/13, “Statement urging Member States to sign and ratify the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to abolish the death penalty”, 6 June 2013, <http://www.oas.org/consejo/GENERAL%20ASSEMBLY/AG43regular.asp#Agenda>. 11  United Nations General Assembly, A/67/279, “Interim Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”, p. 20, 9 August 2012, < http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/ GEN/N12/458/12/PDF/N1245812.pdf?OpenElement>. 7