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In death penalty debate, consider larger interest of society: Shanmugam

SINGAPORE — Making the case for Singapore’s retention of capital punishment in relation to drug traffickers, Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said calls to abolish the death penalty often does not focus enough on the victims of the drug trade.

Minister K Shanmugam delivering remarks at the High-Level Side Event at the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Minister K Shanmugam delivering remarks at the High-Level Side Event at the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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SINGAPORE — Making the case for Singapore’s retention of capital punishment in relation to drug traffickers, Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said calls to abolish the death penalty often does not focus enough on the victims of the drug trade.

Speaking at an event held today (Sept 26) on the sidelines of the annual United Nations (UN) General Assembly debate, titled Moving away from the death penalty: National Leadership, he noted that portraying the debate “as one of taking lives versus not taking lives is a straw man argument”.

“No civilised society can glorify in the taking of life. The question is whether, in very limited circumstances, it is legitimate to have the death penalty so that the larger interest of society is served,” he added.

The event saw UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson urging global leaders gathered to work towards either a moratorium or the abolishment of the death penalty, which is a punishment he said deprived people of their lives “arbitrarily and cruelly” and was also “unjust and incompatible with human rights”.

UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein also called the death penalty the “very example of human vengeance at its worst”.

But Mr Shanmugam refuted that the capital punishment for drug traffickers stemmed from vengeance, pointing out that drug traffickers themselves impose immense penalties, including the death penalty, on their victims. Drug use kills between 100,000 and 250,000 globally, he noted.

Reiterating a long-standing stance of the Government, Mr Shanmugam held up Singapore’s success in staving off the drug problem and its associated issues, such as crime, to become one of the safest in the world as proof that the death penalty can be an effective deterrent.

Although Singapore is a “natural front” for drugs to flow in from major trafficking centres in its region because of its wealth and good logistics links, the framework of laws and effective enforcement here — which entails the death penalty for those convicted — has largely kept drug traffickers away, he said.

Mr Shanmugam added: “For those who ask for whom the death penalty can be a deterrent, I say to them, come and see for yourself in Singapore, and compare the region and the rest of the world.”

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