101. Welcomes the assessment by human rights organisations that the use of the death penalty in 2011 broadly confirms the global trend towards abolition; welcomes Thailand’s abolition of the death penalty for offenders under 18; regrets, however, that there was a significant increase in executions in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia; expresses serious disappointment at the refusal of China to disclose credible information about its use of death penalty and executions that, according to Amnesty International, number in the thousands; welcomes the abolition of the death penalty in the US state of Illinois but regrets that the United States continues to execute people despite being the only G8 country to do so in 2011; recalls with concern that Belarus is the only European country to continue use the death penalty; urges the EU and its Member States consistently to bring this issue up as a matter of priority in their dialogues with these countries; 102. Declares that the EU, which has in the past been successful in fighting the death penalty in specific cases, should take a more decisive stand and call on the institutions and the Member States to maintain and step up their commitment to this cause and their political will, in order to see the death penalty finally abolished worldwide; Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment 103. Welcomes the adoption of the updated Guidelines on EU policy towards third countries on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; recalls, however, that the challenges of awareness-raising and implementation have to be overcome to achieve genuine advances in EU policy; 104. Welcomes the extension in the updated guidelines of the groups requiring special protection to persons facing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as the commitment to urge third countries to provide domestic procedure for complaints and reports that are gender and child-sensitive; regrets, however, that EU’s coordinated efforts to counter torture do not address its gender dimension in a more comprehensive manner, mainly due to a lack of substantive information on all forms of torture and ill-treatment; 105. Stresses the importance of linking EU guidelines with the implementation modalities of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), with particular attention to the National Preventive Mechanisms; 106. Points out that the definition of slavery provided by the UN is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised; deplores the fact that modern forms of slavery survive, including within the EU; calls, therefore, on the Commission to pursue a much stronger policy on this subject, particularly with regard to domestic staff, the socio-professional group most affected by these forms of slavery; 107. Regrets that the political abuse of psychiatry still remains a painful problem in a number of countries which have a history of using violent psychiatric methods in support of antidemocratic regimes trying to intimidate and stop dissenting segments of society and individuals; emphasises with concern that this tendency goes hand in hand with vague and elusive forms of torture, including psychological terror and degrading conditions of prisons; 108. Calls attention to the significance of the report of the UN Special Rapporteur of 5 August