VIETNAM: UNITED NATIONS TO FREEZE COUNTER-NARCOTICS AID

February 11, 2014: three leading anti-death penalty groups have appealed to the United Nations to freeze counter-narcotics aid to Vietnam, after the communist country sentenced 30 people to die for drug-related offences. 
The call – from Reprieve, Harm Reduction International (HRI) and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty – cites the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's internal human rights guidance note requiring the organization to stop funding for a country if it's feared that such support may lead to people being executed. 
The appeal follows the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland’s withdrawal of aid from Iran’s drug control program, fearing that such assistance could contribute to illegal executions for drugs offences in the country. 
While there is considerable secrecy around the death penalty in Vietnam, it is known that the country hands out numerous death sentences every year. In January 2014, a court in northern Vietnam sentenced 30 people to death for heroin trafficking, the largest number of defendants sentenced to death in a single trial in the country's court history. The trial of each defendant lasted around a day. Media reports have indicated that around half of all executions are for drug-related crimes. There are nearly 700 people on the death row in Vietnam, many of them for drugs. 
UNODC aid to Vietnam will exceed $5 million for technical assistance, equipment, training and other support for the 2012-2017 period. Drug control is the largest component of the program. (Sources: montrealgazette.com, ekklesia.co.uk.news, 12/02/2014)