IDPC co-signs joint statement at the 57th session of the Human Rights Council urging sentencing reform for drug offences, including abolishing the death penalty and mandatory sentences.
HRI spotlights key concerns from the 57th Human Rights Council, including rising drug-related executions, human rights violations in Sri Lanka, and racial disparities in criminal justice.
Hoyle and Harry discuss how frameworks of morality, compassion and traditionalism shape criminal justice outcomes and punitive responses, informing efforts to challenge harsh penal policy and capital punishment in the region.
Discussions focused on proposals to impose the death penalty on people involved in drug supply, harm reduction strategies, and the need for drug policy reform.
Prime Minister Sretta Thavisin's declarations in favour of increased punitive measures for drug use and related activities echo Thailand's catastrophic "war on drugs" in 2003, despite international recommendations for balanced, rights-based strategies.
Demands for repeal are sparked from civil society as Nigeria introduces the death penalty for drug offences, the step backwards has provoked calls for rights-based policy reform.
In response to Nigeria's proposal of the death penalty for drug-related offences, civil society demand reform instead, urging harm reduction and support for effective drug policies.
HRI highlight that the global movement for abolition of the death penalty continues to gain ground, yet progress related to drug offences specifically remains a persistent fight.
Various human rights groups call out Singapore's arbitrary expedition of cases and invoke the state's duty to protect rights of those facing death penalty.
