The death penalty for drug offences: Global overview 2018

By Giada Girelli

Harm Reduction International (HRI) has monitored use of the death penalty for drug offences worldwide since our first ground-breaking publication on this issue in 2007. This report, our eighth on the subject, continues our work of providing regular updates on legislative and practical developments related to the use of capital punishment for drug offences, a practice which is a clear violation of international human rights law.

The 2018 Global Overview outlines key trends across the at least 35 countries that retain the death penalty for drug offences in law, and analyses data on death sentences and executions from the last decade. Extensive examination is provided on the divergent trends witnessed in 2018 of falling execution numbers globally, and rising appeal for reimplementation of the death penalty in some countries, while considering the role public opinion plays in all of this.

Harm Reduction International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exceptions, regardless of the person accused and their conviction, the nature of the crime, and the method of execution.