death_penalty_new.qxd 02-08-27 12:57 Page 8 THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE OSCE AREA the number of death sentences that have been passed and the number of executions that have been carried out. The majority of country entries provide statistics for 2000 and 2001. Where it has been possible to obtain statistics for the first part of 2002, these have also been included. Fourthly, the section on international standards assesses the extent to which each participating State complies with the limitations that are placed upon the use of the death penalty by international law. Chapter 4 of the paper has been produced with the co-operation of the delegations of the participating States to the OSCE and the OSCE field operations. The OSCE/ODIHR contacted the OSCE delegation of each participating State reviewed in Chapter 4 and asked them to complete a detailed questionnaire on the use of the death penalty in their respective country4. Of the 18 delegations, which represent a country included in this publication, 11 completed the questionnaire5. Each country entry indicates whether it was completed with or without the assistance of the rel evant OSCE delegation. In addition, the OSCE/ODIHR also sent a detailed questionnaire to all the OSCE field operations that carry out their activities in those participating States that retain the death penalty. The OSCE/ODIHR also relied upon additional information from other inter-governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and media reports. Finally, a full-text reproduction of the texts of relevant OSCE commitments and other international standards is attached in Annexes 1 and 2. A table comparing the ratification status of the relevant international instruments in the OSCE participating States is attached in Annex 3. 4 5 A questionnaire asking for information on the death penalty was sent to all 55 Delegations of the OSCE participating States. The ODIHR thanks all those Delegations that completed the questionnaire. These are Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, the Russian Federation, Turkey, Uzbekistan and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In addition we also received some information on federal legislation from the State Department of the United States of America. 8