Denmark aid continuing to Pakistan despite death penalty return

About 100 people have been executed since December

Luisa Kyca & Christian Wenande

Denmark continues to give aid geared to the fight against drugs in Pakistan, despite the nation again turning to the death penalty in drug-related crime convictions.

Since 2010, Denmark has given 25 million kroner in aid to Pakistan, even though the country has executed over 100 people since the moratorium was lifted in December 2014.

The Copenhagen Post revealed in October last year that Denmark’s aid to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) programs in Pakistan hung in the balance as the South Asian nation moved towards embracing the death penalty following a moratorium that had existed since 2008.

Since then there have been approximately 100 executions, with over 8,000 more prisoners sentenced to death. Among these, several hundred were convicted of drugs-related crimes.

“The technical assistance that UNODC provides the police and the anti-narcotics force (ANF) increases drug confiscations, which will lead to increased convictions and subsequently executions,” the human rights organisation Amnesty International concluded in a report from last year.

READ MORE: Danish aid to Pakistan threatened by shifting death penalty stance

Funds still flowing
The Foreign Ministry revealed then that it was keeping watching developments closely, but according to Amnesty International, Danish aid continues to roll into the Pakistani coffers.

The funds are used to train the Pakistani police forces and ANF, as well as to purchase new equipment.

At the moment, a further 8 million kroner is being prepared to be sent to the UNODC in Pakistan.

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