Heyns, a South African, called for governments and international organizations to ensure their counter-narcotics aid does not lead to killings in violation of international law.
Heyns addressed the UN General Assembly two days after Iran hanged another 10 people for drug-related crimes. Such executions are in violation of international law, according to the UN Human Rights Committee and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, because drug offenses do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” to which the death penalty might lawfully apply.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and international donors provide significant financial and technical assistance for national and regional drug enforcement efforts. In his report to the General Assembly, Heyns observed that such cooperation may “raise questions of complicity where they contribute to the imposition of the death penalty in violation of international standards,” including where the death penalty is imposed for drug-related offenses.
“In some countries, like Iran, donors are supporting drug enforcement programs that lead to prosecutions in judicial systems that they themselves regard as unjust,” said Rebecca Schleifer, advocacy director of the Health and Human Rights division at Human Rights Watch.
“Assistance to drug control efforts in countries with draconian drug laws, secret trials with no appeal, and death sentences for possession of small amounts of drugs raises serious concerns about complicity in violations of the right to life.”
