The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area
Economic and Social Council Resolution 1989/64:
Implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of
those facing the death penalty
(24 May 1989)
The Economic and Social Council,
1. Recommends that Member States take steps to implement the safeguards and
strengthen further the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty,
where applicable, by:
a. Affording special protection to persons facing charges for which the death
penalty is provided by allowing time and facilities for the preparation of their
defence, including the adequate assistance of counsel at every stage of the
proceedings, above and beyond the protection afforded in non-capital cases;
b. Providing for mandatory appeals or review with provisions for clemency or
pardon in all cases of capital offence;
c. Establishing a maximum age beyond which a person may not be sentenced to
death or executed;
d. Eliminating the death penalty for persons suffering from mental retardation
or extremely limited mental competence, whether at the stage of sentence or
execution;
2. Invites Member States to co-operate with specialized bodies, non-governmental
organizations, academic institutions and specialists in the field in efforts to conduct
research on the use of the death penalty in every region of the world;
3. Also invites Member States to facilitate the efforts of the Secretary-General to
gather comprehensive, timely and accurate information about the implementation of
the safeguards and the death penalty in general;
4. Invites Member States that have not yet done so to review the extent to which
their legislation provides for the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of
those facing the death penalty as set out in the annex to Economic and Social Council
resolution 1984/50;
5. Urges Member States to publish, for each category of offence for which the death
penalty is authorized, and if possible on an annual basis, information about the use of
the death penalty, including the number of persons sentenced to death, the number
of executions actually carried out, the number of persons under sentence of death,
the number of death sentences reversed or commuted on appeal and the number of
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