death_penalty_new.qxd 02-08-27 12:57 Page 7 INTRODUCTION 1. INTRODUCTION In accordance with paragraph 17.7 of the Copenhagen Document1, in which the OSCE participating States committed themselves to exchange information on the question of the abolition of the death penalty, this paper compares the use of the death penalty in the OSCE region. The paper updates Background Paper 2001/1 and covers the period from 30 June 2001 to 30 June 2002. Chapter 2 of the paper provides an overview of OSCE commitments relating to the death penalty. It is apparent from this section that the OSCE commitments themselves do not prohibit the use of the death penalty. However, the OSCE participating States that retain the death penalty have committed themselves to only impose the death penalty for the most serious crimes and in a manner not contrary to their international commitments2. In addition to the OSCE commitments, the Copenhagen Document refers to other international commitments on the use of the death penalty. Accordingly, Chapter 3 of the paper introduces the international standards that have been elaborated in other international forums. Chapter 4 specifically addresses the situation and main developments in 18 participating States. Of these states, 12 retain the death penalty3, three (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova) contain internationally unrecognized separatist regions where the death penalty is used and three have either recently become abolitionist or retain the death penalty in inactive or anomalous legal provisions. Each country is discussed individually in a separate entry. Each entry consists of four sections. These are the relevant international instruments, legal framework, statistics and international standards. Firstly, the section on relevant international instruments lists whether the particular country has signed or ratified the relevant binding international legal instruments on the use of the death penalty. When read in conjunction with Chapter 3 of the paper, this section indicates exactly which binding international commitments each participating State has undertaken. Secondly, the section on the legal framework outlines the legal status and scope of the death penalty. It is in this section that any trends towards reduction in scope or abolition are discussed. Thirdly, the section on statistics indicates 1 2 3 Document of the 1990 Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE. Concluding Document of the 1989 Vienna Follow-up Meeting, ‘Questions Relating to Security in Europe’, paragraph 24. Of the 55 participating States of the OSCE, 43 have abolished the death penalty. 7