Part II: The road to abolition of the death penalty All OSCE participating States have ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). As elaborated in ODIHR’s 2019 background paper on the death penalty, the Human Rights Committee has stated that: “Article 6 (6) of the ICCPR reaffirms the position that States parties that are not yet totally abolitionist should be on an irrevocable path towards complete eradication of the death penalty, de facto and de jure, in the foreseeable future. The death penalty cannot be reconciled with full respect for the right to life, and abolition of the death penalty is both desirable and necessary for the enhancement of human dignity and progressive development of human rights.”11 The majority of OSCE participating States are in agreement that the death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Yet, capital punishment is still imposed within the region in two retentionist states – Belarus and the United States. As debates surrounding the reintroduction of capital punishment surface repeatedly, it is crucial to better understand how countries are able to abolish it in law and in practice. This section highlights some of the most influential dynamics on a state’s road to abolition of the death penalty, referencing the abolition process in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Latvia and the American state of Virginia. The paper illustrates that the road to abolition is often not linear but can be achieved in various ways in very different contexts when broad coalitions of national and international actors work together.12 It is important to note that this thematic section does not claim to provide a comprehensive overview or assessment of all factors that played a role in abolishing the 11 Human Rights Committee, General comment No. 36 (2018) on article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the right to life, CCPR/C/GC/36, para. 50. 12 These participating States were selected as they have abolished the death penalty in recent years and represent different regions within the OSCE. 13