UN urges Indonesia to refrain from the death penalty

(Vatican Radio) The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) is urging the government of Indonesia to refrain from executing individuals convicted of drug offences.

The UN human rights office said that regrettably six people found guilty of drug offences were executed in January and several others are due to face the firing squad imminently, including two Australians.

Listen to the report by Peter Kenny:

The Australian government has been public in its pleas to the Indonesian government to grant the two men clemency. They are among 11 men convicted of drug trafficking and who are to be executed in the coming days.

“Indonesia's relentless efforts to fight the scourge of drug trafficking are understandable, but this is not the way to do it,” said spokesman Rupert Colville. “By taking this course, Indonesia sadly will weaken its own position when advocating for its own nationals who sometimes face the death penalty abroad.

“In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, international human rights jurisprudence requires that capital punishment may only be imposed for the ‘most serious crimes’ of murder or intentional killing,” he underlined. “Drug-related offences do not fall under this threshold of 'most serious crimes'.”

Colville noted the UN Rights Commissioner stressed at the Human Rights Council, 4 March, there is no evidence that the death penalty deters drug crimes, or any other crime, more than other forms of punishment. The Human Rights Office called on the Indonesian authorities to reinstate the moratorium on the death penalty.