THE DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG OFFENCES: GLOBAL OVERVIEW 2023

6 In line with the definition by the UN Human Rights Committee in General Comment 36 (CCPR/C/GC/36), the death penalty is reported as ‘mandatory’ when it is the only punishment that can be imposed following a conviction for at least certain categories of drug offences (without regard to the circumstances of the offence or the offender). [...] After years of efforts to narrow the scope of the death penalty, in late July 2023 Pakistan removed death as a possible punishment for offences under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act (CNSA), effectively becoming the first country to abolish the death penalty for drug offences in over a decade. [...] Regretfully, lower courts reportedly continued to sentence people to death for drug offences months after the adoption of the Bill, underscoring the need to ensure the outcome of the reform is disseminated to prosecutors, judges, and lawyers across the country and embedded in guidance. [...] In a joint statement on 2023 World Drug Day, civil society organisations called on UNODC to “take concrete, urgent actions against the ongoing violations of human rights in the name of drug control that the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences entails.”23 UNODC‘s silence under current leadership could be interpreted as supporting the use of the death penalty for drug offences; backsl. [...] The report re-emphasises that “drug-related offences can never serve as the basis for the imposition of the death penalty”,29 and further recommends universal abolition of the death penalty, including for drug offences.