The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area 1. Abolitionist States After acceding to Protocol No. 13 to the Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances, in April 2010, the government of Spain established, on 7 October, the International Commission Against the Death Penalty. The objective of the commission is to pursue the universal abolition of capital punishment while, in the meantime, promoting the establishment of a global moratorium on its use.5 On 6 December 2010, Kyrgyzstan acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which is aimed at the abolition of the death penalty, thus becoming the Protocol’s 73rd State Party.6 The treaty had been ratified on 3 June, after the adoption of an enabling law on 17 March.   2. Partly Abolitionist States LATVIA A moratorium on the death penalty has been in place in Latvia since 1996 and, in 1999, capital punishment was abolished for crimes committed in peacetime. The Criminal Code of Latvia allows for the imposition of death sentences for convictions for murder with aggravating circumstances, and only when committed in wartime.7 The country is in the process of ratifying Protocol No. 13 to the Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Since the government of Latvia endorsed a draft law on the ratification of Protocol No. 13, on 19 May 2008, progress on passing the law has been slow. The only notable devel- 5  International Commission Against the Death Penalty, About ICDP, 5 September 2011, <http://www.icomdp.org/ about-icdp/>. 6  “Kyrgyzstan becomes 73rd country to pass irreversible abolition”, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, 17 December 2010, <http://www.worldcoalition.org/Kyrgyzstan-becomes-73rd-country-to-pass-irreversible-abolition. html>. 7  Article 37 of the Criminal Code of Latvia, 15 October 1998, as amended on 18 May 2000. 3