II. The Status of the Death Penalty in the OSCE Area 1. The Death Penalty and the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment “The application of the death penalty almost invariably entails cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of international law” – Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay39 Since the elaboration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the beginning of the international debate on the abolition of the death penalty, humanity has evolved significantly. The interpretation of the content of each area of human rights in the Declaration has progressed through conventions and international protocols. The death penalty as it relates to the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment remains under debate.40 1.1 OSCE commitments and the international legal framework Since 1997, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted five resolutions that called on states to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.41 Currently, approximately 160 of the 193 Member States of the United Nations have abolished the death penalty or introduced moratoriums, either in law or in practice. Reportedly, on the global level, 2015 saw a rise in the number of people executed – at least 1,634 – in 25 countries excluding executions in the People’s Republic 39  EU Guidelines, op. Cit., note 8, see also Navi Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Foreword, <http://www.ohchr.org/Lists/MeetingsNY/Attachments/27/moving_away_from_death_penalty_web.pdf>. 40  “Death Penalty: A Cruel and Inhuman Punishment” Arroyo Zapatero, L., Schabas, W. Takayama, K. (Edit.) Muñoz de Morales, M. (Coord.). – Cuenca : Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 2013, p. 47, <https://ruidera.uclm.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10578/7353/DEATH%20PENALTY%20web.pdf?sequence=1>. 41  See U.N. G.A. Res. A/RES/65/206 (2010) para.3.d, <http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/65/206; A/RES/67/176 (2012), para. 3 and A/RES/69/186 (2014), http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/ view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/69/186>.