2 International Standards on the Death Penalty This chapter provides an overview of the international standards on the death penalty that have been developed by the OSCE, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States, and the European Union.­ For the purposes of this overview, international standards have been divided into two categories: • International standards restricting the use of the death penalty; and • International standards abolishing the death penalty. 2.1 International Standards Restricting the Use of the Death Penalty OSCE OSCE commitments, which are of a politically binding nature, do not require the abolition of the death penalty. However, OSCE participating States have committed themselves to carry out the death penalty only for the most serious crimes and in a manner not contrary to their international commitments. United Nations The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is of a legally binding nature, does not require the abolition of the death penalty. Article 6 of the ICCPR provides for the right to life but recognizes the death penalty as a permissible exception to the right to life. The text of the ICCPR provides that no one shall be deprived of the right to life arbitrarily and lists a number of specific restrictions and limitations on the use of the death penalty. Article 6 (2) provides that:   For a comprehensive outline of international instruments related to death penalty, see Amnesty International’s online publication “International Standards on the Death Penalty”, which can be found at http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engact500012006.   Concluding Document of the 1989 Vienna Follow-up Meeting, “Questions relating to Security in Europe”, para. 24. OSCE commitments also place a number of positive obligations on participating States that choose to retain the death penalty. A full-text reproduction of the OSCE commitments on the death penalty can be found in Annex 1.   UN General Assembly Resolution 2200 A (XXI) of 16 December 1966. Entered into force on 23 March 1976.