Dec. 11
UNITED NATIONS:
UN expert warns UN drug agency over executions
A UN human rights expert has warned the UN's drugs agency that it is not doing
enough to prevent a global surge in the death penalty for drugs offences.
In a letter dated 7 December, Dainius Puras - the UN Special Rapporteur on the
right to health - told Yury Fedotov, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and
Crime, that he was "concerned" that in current, UNODC-led General Assembly
negotiations on international drug policy, "human rights is included as a theme
[but] has played a very minor role in the negotiations to date... with no
meaningful debate." He added: "I would like to reiterate that the death penalty
for drug offences does not meet the threshold of 'most serious crimes.' Mr
Puras called for next year's General Assembly summit on global drug policy to
include "explicit and clear human rights standards and commitments" by all
states - including against the death penalty.
The UNODC has faced criticism that counter-narcotics programmes it administers,
funded by countries including the US, UK, Germany and France, have led to the
handing down of death sentences. For example, a UNODC-funded law enforcement
programme in Iran has been linked to the arrest of a 15 year old, Jannat Mir,
who was later hanged on drug trafficking charges. An investigation by human
rights organisation Reprieve last year found that European funding alone could
be linked to 3,000 executions in Iran and more than 100 death sentences in
Pakistan.
Mr Puras' concerns come as the death penalty for drugs offences is becoming
more prevalent worldwide. According to research by Reprieve, drug-related
executions have doubled in Saudi Arabia and Iran over the past year, while
hundreds of drug offenders are at risk of imminent execution following the
collapse of death penalty moratoria in Pakistan and Indonesia. Other countries,
such as Oman and the Philippines, have advanced legislation allowing for the
death penalty in relation to drugs.
The UN General Assembly has long called for drug control to be carried out 'in
full conformity' with the UN Charter and international conventions. In his
letter, Mr Puras says that "such language...becomes meaningless unless
underpinned by clear and explicit human rights standards and principles." The
letter follows similar recent calls to UNODC from the UN Special Rapporteurs on
torture, summary executions, and Iran.
Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at Reprieve, said: "Mr Puras is
right to sound the alarm about the death penalty for drug offences at a time
when this practice is surging worldwide. Ahead of next year's all important
drug policy summit, it is deeply alarming to see the UNODC and its Western
funders pushing a counter-narcotics approach that is an unmitigated human
rights disaster. Yury Fedotov must urgently listen to the experts within the UN
family, and end the UNODC's complicity in the death penalty for drugs
offences."
* Reprieve http://www.reprieve.org.uk/
(source: ekklesia.co.uk)
SOUTH AFRICA:
NFP calls for the reinstatement of death penalty
The National Freedom Party in Gauteng has joined the call for the return of a
death penalty following the brutal killing of 2 teenage girls and a baby in
Katlehong on the East Rand.
It's alleged that 2 killers stabbed the 2 teenage girls and the baby to death
before dumping their bodies in a bathtub full of boiling water.
A 22-year-old woman is currently receiving treatment in hospital after she was
also attacked by the 2 suspects. 2 people have since been arrested.
The NFP's Bheki Gumbi says crime is rife in Gauteng.
"It is very clear that criminals are in charge of our lives in the province of
Gauteng. Harsh sentence no longer make any difference, the NFP is now calling
for a death penalty because they are killing innocent kids, they are abusing
innocent women, and at the end of the day they are given life sentences which
is nothing," Gumbi says.
(source: SABC news)
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