The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area During the reporting period,5 there were a number of developments regarding the death penalty in the international arena, namely in the framework of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the European Union.6 Several participants at the HDIM7 in 2007 called for OSCE participating States to support a draft UN General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, which was later presented to the General Assembly. After two failed attempts in 1994 and 1999 to pass similar resolutions and after two days of heated debates preceding the vote, the resolution was adopted on 1 November 2007. It calls on states that still allow capital punishment to progressively restrict the use of the death penalty and to reduce the number of offences for which it may be imposed. Those countries are also called on to respect international standards that safeguard the rights of inmates condemned to death. Fifty-three of the 104 countries that voted for the resolution are OSCE participating States. In the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008, three OSCE participating States – Albania, France, and Ukraine8 – ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),9 which abolishes the death penalty during peacetime. In September 2007, the Council of Europe established a European Day against the Death Penalty to be held every year on 10 October,10 to coincide with the World Day against the Death Penalty. The European Union joined this initiative in December 2007. On 9 October 2007, an international conference on “Europe against the Death Penalty” was organized in Lisbon by the Council of Europe, the Portuguese presidency of the European Union, and the European Commission to mark 10 years without the death penalty in the member states of the Council of Europe. 5  The reporting period covered by this paper is from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008. 6  Unlike in previous years, this concise background paper does not provide an overview of international standards on the death penalty. Readers interested in an analysis of the relevant international standards should see The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2007 (Warsaw: ODIHR, 2007), pp. 3-9, <http://www.osce.org/publications/odihr/2007/09/26345_934_en.pdf>. For a compilation of the relevant international standards, please see Annex 2 of this background paper. 7  For a list of relevant recommendations made at the 2007 HDIM, see Annex 3. 8  For the status of ratifications of relevant treaties, see Annex 5. 9  UN General Assembly Resolution 44/128 of 15 December 1989, entered into force on 11 July 1991. Article 2 of the Second Optional Protocol provides that no reservation is admissible except for reservations made at the time of ratification or accession that provide for the application of the death penalty in time of war pursuant to a conviction for a most serious crime of a military nature committed during wartime. 10  Council of Europe, Decision CM(2007)137 and GR-EXT(2007)CB8, “European Day against the Death Penalty”, 26 September 2007; Council of Europe, Committee of Ministers, Decision CM/Del/ Dec(2007)1005/4.9, 12 December 2007. vi