The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area Abolitionist States Twenty-one of the 51 abolitionist participating States responded to the ODIHR questionnaire on the death penalty.15 The majority of replies confirmed that the participating States from this group remained dedicated to international efforts towards the abolition of the death penalty through various initiatives, including different events and activities within and of the OSCE, the UN, the Council of Europe and the EU. They also undertook numerous initiatives at the national level. Traditionally, many OSCE participating States have supported UN General Assembly Resolution No. 69/186, the moratorium on the use of the death penalty.16 The resolution calls upon those states that still maintain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing it completely. A number of OSCE participating States have continued to support other international efforts aimed at introducing moratoriums and abolishing the death penalty, as stated in their responses to the ODIHR questionnaire. The majority of the EU countries emphasized their activities to promote the EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty, which highlight possible instruments and steps to be taken as part of the process to abolish the death penalty in countries outside the EU that have retained it.17 These guidelines also provide direction on how to react in individual cases when international safeguards, such as the right to due process and the international prohibition of imposing the death penalty on people under the age of 18, have been breached. Some participating States also noted that they funded projects in countries still practicing the death penalty, in order to support awareness-raising campaigns and capacity building of civil society organizations working towards the abolition of the death penalty. Belgium, Hungary and Moldova replied that they systematically raise the issue of the death penalty within the framework of the Universal Periodical Review (UPR) in the UN Human Rights Council and make recommendations related to the introduction of a moratorium on the death penalty and accession to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). 15  The following abolitionist participating States submitted replies: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Uzbekistan, San Marino, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. 16  See Annex 3. 17  EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty, European Union 30 September 2010, <http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:r10106>. 11