Harm Reduction International 3d ago

Over the last decade, aid donors spent approximately $60 million on 'narcotics control' projects in countries that retain the death penalty for drug-related offences, including Iran, which carried out 79% of the world's confirmed drug-related executions in 2025. These sums are likely the tip of the iceberg. There are significant transparency gaps in this spending, and aid is specifically supposed to support poor and marginalised communities in developing countries, not kill them. Published jointly by Harm Reduction International and the The Institute for Journalism and Social Change, the report follows the money through OECD aid data, and finds it leading to some deeply troubling places. Read the full report: https://hri.global/publications/aiding-executions-how-aid-donors-un-enable-death-penalty-for-drugs/