ID: HR19-371

Presenting author: Giada Girelli

Presenting author biography:

Human Rights Analyst at Harm Reduction International , focusing on the abolition of the death penalty for drug-related offences. Prior to HRI, she undertook research and policy analysis for the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights team at Amnesty International; and worked in Guatemala promoting indigenous peoples’ rights.

The death penalty for drug offences: populism against evidence

Giada Girelli

The death penalty is cruel, inhuman, and illegal under international law when imposed for drug offences.

Still, over a thousand people have been executed in the past four years for a broad and inconsistent range of drug-related crimes, while hundreds remain on death row in over thirty states. Notably, the death penalty is not a ‘self-standing’ phenomenon, but rather one of the most visible and barbaric manifestations of a repressive approach to drugs, which both legitimises and exacerbates discrimination and abuses against people engaged in the drug market.

Recent developments at the domestic level point to the emergence of two opposing yet contemporary trends.

On one side, an acknowledgement of the lack of effectiveness of capital punishment to curb drug use and trafficking has led to positive reforms that substantially reduced executions; among others, a 2017 reform in Iran reviewing the crimes punishable with death has led to a 99 per cent drop in executions in the country.
Meanwhile, populist leaders are increasingly pointing to capital punishment as a measure to combat inflated drug emergencies.
Recent spates of executions (or risk thereof) in countries such as Sri Lanka demonstrate the risks of retaining the death penalty as a potential punishment for drug crimes.

Ongoing monitoring and research by Harm Reduction International (HRI) reveal a drastic decrease in reported executions for drug crimes in 2018, mainly due to the above-mentioned reforms. Notwithstanding, death sentences continue to be imposed against people accused of being involved in the drug market, exposing them to a broad range of abuses, and to the constant threat of state-sponsored killing.
This presentation will situate the death penalty as a tool of drug control, and it will present new findings from HRI’s research on death sentences and executions for drugs worldwide, highlighting the latest data and trends.