Harm Reduction International (HRI) welcomes the opportunity to comment on crucial issues and developments concerning the use of the death penalty; and urges the Secretary-General to continue prioritising this issue. We further reaffirm the call for a moratorium on the death penalty as a step towards its definitive abolition worldwide. 

This submission will provide information on developments from 1 July 2022, focusing on drug offences. Because of a widespread lack of transparency on the phenomenon, all reported figures are minimum confirmed figures, likely to represent only a fraction of actual death sentences, executions, and death row populations.