death_penalty_new.qxd 02-08-27 12:57 Page 9 OSCE COMMITMENTS RELATING TO THE DEATH PENALTY 2. OSCE COMMITMENTS RELATING TO THE DEATH PENALTY The 1989 Vienna Concluding Document6 and the 1990 Copenhagen Document7 introduced the issue of the death penalty to the catalogue of CSCE/OSCE human dimension commitments. With the adoption of these Documents, the participating States committed themselves to, – impose the death penalty, where not abolished, “only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the commission of the crime and not contrary to their international commitments” (Vienna Document, ‘Questions relating to Security in Europe’, paragraph 24); – keep the question of capital punishment under consideration (ibid.); – co-operate on the issue within relevant international organizations (ibid.); – exchange information on the question of the abolition of the death penalty (Copenhagen Document, paragraph 17.7); – make available to the public information regarding the use of the death penalty (ibid., paragraph 17.8). These commitments were subsequently reaffirmed by the participating States at the Moscow Meeting (1991), the Helsinki Summit (1992), and the Budapest Summit (1994). 6 7 Concluding Document of the 1989 Vienna Follow-up Meeting-, ’Questions Relating to Security in Europe’, paragraph 24. Document of the 1990 Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE. 9