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Death for drugs may backfire, anti-narcotics partners say
Attempts to implement the death penalty after 42 years may undermine much needed international support for the current counter narcotics campaign, experts caution.
The recent police and military successes in intercepting large shipments of narcotics was the result of shared intelligence, both domestically and internationally.
Sri Lankan law enforcement agencies also receive essential technical assistance, and specialised training from foreign states and international organisations.
However, many countries that have abolished the death penalty and international organisations that are duty bound to uphold humanitarian laws may have to restrict or rethink intelligence sharing, providing training and equipment or deporting wanted suspects, if Sri Lanka enforces the death penalty against those convicted of narco trafficking and distribution.
Sri Lanka has not carried out the death penalty since 1976. However, President Maithripala Sirisena, is pushing to remove the moratorium on the death penalty for selected individuals on death row. Last year, a list of names was finalised and the process to select a hangman is underway.
“UNODC will not endorse the use of the death penalty as an effective deterrent to drug trafficking crime, in fact it is counter-productive to intelligence sharing on drug trafficking networks,” said Shanaka Jayasekara of the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). “Maintaining the moratorium on carrying out the death penalty is vital to ensure continued support and collaboration with foreign drug enforcement agencies.”
Foreign drug enforcement agencies have so far been supportive of Sri Lankan efforts and have advanced technical capabilities to acquire valuable intelligence and corroborate information on drug trafficking networks, a senior police officer told the Sunday Times.
Several embassies and high commissions in Colombo declined to comment on whether the death penalty would change the current intelligence and supportive relationship with Sri Lanka.
In August 2018, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a letter to the Sri Lankan President called on the government to maintain the moratorium on the death penalty. And in March this year the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet Jeria said she was deeply concerned about the calls to reinstate the death penalty.
Last month, a UNODC initiative to establish a South Asia Regional Intelligence Coordination Centre in Colombo was postponed by the Presidential Secretariat even after the plans were approved by the Foreign Ministry and Cabinet.
Sri Lanka has not invested in the technological tools needed to identify and classify narcotics, President Maithripala Sirisena said during his budget speech in Parliament last week. He claimed that law enforcers had been successful in the counter narcotics drive through human efforts, initiative and without modern tools, which, he said, are on order from foreign sources.
The Human Rights Commission and Amnesty International have issued statements calling for the moratorium on the death penalty not to be removed.
In a letter addressed to President Sirisena in July last year, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka also expressed concerns and asked that the capital punishment decision be revoked. The Commission suggested a series of strong and long term policies (including strengthening of institutions and procedures) aimed at addressing serious crimes including drug trafficking).