A/HRC/33/20 does it protect people from drug abuse. Nevertheless, 33 countries or territories12 continue to maintain the death penalty for drug-related offences in their legislation. In some countries, drug offences account for the majority of death sentences handed down and executions carried out. During the reporting period, the death penalty was imposed or implemented for drug-related offences in a number of countries, including China, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Viet Nam. Foreign nationals continued to be sentenced to death and executed in cases related to drug trafficking in many countries. 25. United Nations human rights entities continued to address the issue of the use of the death penalty for drug crimes in violation of international law. In its follow-up evaluation of Indonesia, the Human Rights Committee awarded a grade E — the lowest possible evaluation score — for the country’s failure to respond to the Committee’s recommendation in 2013 to halt the execution of prisoners for drug-related crimes and to amend its legislation accordingly. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Government of Indonesia to halt execution for drug offences and to conduct a thorough review of all requests for pardon with a view to commutation. 13 26. During the panel discussion on the impact of the world drug problem on the enjoyment of human rights, held during the thirtieth session of the Human Rights Council, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the International Drug Policy Consortium, emphasizing that drug control measures must be consistent with international human rights law, encouraged States to abolish the death penalty for drug-related offences, recalling that they are not considered to fall under the category of “most serious crimes” (A/HRC/31/45). Furthermore, in its annual report of 2015, the International Narcotic Control Board recommended that drug control action must be consistent with international human rights standards. The Board advised all countries that continue to retain the death penalty for drug-related offences to consider abolishing capital punishment for this category of offences.14 27. During the same panel discussion, a number of States stressed that the death penalty should be abolished for drug-related offences, while others emphasized that their goal was the universal abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances, including for drug users. Colombia, for instance, expressed its concern regarding the high number of individuals facing a death sentence for drug-related crimes and proposed an agenda aimed at eliminating the death penalty (A/HRC/31/45). 28. On the occasion of the special session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem, a group of special procedure mandate holders and other independent experts reiterated that the death penalty for drug offences did not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes”. They expressed collective disappointment that many States had failed to bring their national policies into accordance with that standard, emphasized that the application of capital punishment for drug-related offences directly contravened 12 13 14 8 Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, China, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Libya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Viet Nam and Yemen, as well as Gaza (State of Palestine) and Taiwan Province of China. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15654&LangID=E. See www.incb.org/documents/Publications/AnnualReports/AR2015/English/AR_2015_E.pdf.