United Nations experts have condemned Singapore’s continued use of the death penalty for drug-related offences, saying at least 16 people have been executed in the country since the beginning of 2026 and calling for an immediate halt to what they described as unlawful executions.
The experts said international human rights law permits countries that have not abolished capital punishment to impose it only for the “most serious crimes”, which they understand as crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing. Drug-related offences, they said, do not meet that threshold.
“These executions constitute arbitrary deprivations of life that are irreversible and must stop,” the experts said, reiterating that the ultimate objective under international human rights law is the abolition of the death penalty.
The statement also renewed concerns previously raised with the Singapore Government over its Misuse of Drugs Act. The experts specifically highlighted the mandatory imposition of the death penalty in certain circumstances, as well as statutory presumptions relating to possession, knowledge and trafficking.
They argued that mandatory death sentences prevent courts from individually assessing the circumstances of both the offence and the offender. In their view, such sentences are arbitrary and incompatible with the right to life. They also criticised statutory presumptions that place the burden on an accused person to rebut presumed facts, saying this undermines the presumption of innocence, with particularly serious consequences when a person’s life is at stake.
“Capital proceedings require the highest standards of fairness and due process,” the experts said. “No execution can be lawful where the death sentence results from proceedings that fail to meet these guarantees.”
The experts also drew attention to the application of capital punishment to foreign nationals and older persons. They reminded Singapore of its obligations concerning equality and non-discrimination and reiterated a recommendation that the country establish a maximum age beyond which a person may not be sentenced to death or executed.
The latest executions follow a significant number of capital punishments in Singapore during the previous year. “Seventeen people were executed in 2025, 15 of them for drug-related offences, and at least 16 more have been executed already this year,” the experts said.
Their criticism also focused on the wider human rights implications of capital punishment. They stressed the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which they described as a peremptory norm of international law from which no derogation is permitted.
“The extreme physical and psychological suffering inherent throughout the death penalty process, culminating in the deliberate taking of a person’s life by the State, cannot be reconciled with the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, nor with respect for human dignity,” they said.
The experts called on Singapore to immediately halt all executions and end both the use and mandatory imposition of the death penalty for drug offences. They also urged the government to establish an official moratorium as a step towards full abolition of capital punishment.
In addition, they called on Singapore to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its Second Optional Protocol. Their appeal places the country’s continued use of capital punishment for drug offences within a broader international debate over the limits of the death penalty under human rights law.
