UK warned that aid to Vietnam inadvertently supports death penalty

S.J.B.

S.J.B.

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UK warned that aid to Vietnam inadvertently supports death penalty
Jamie Doward
The Observer
February 16th, 2014

The UK's decision to send millions of pounds in aid to Vietnam has been called into question after the country confirmed that it is to execute 30 heroin smugglers.

Since Vietnam said in January that it will execute 21 men and nine women, human rights groups have urged governments around the world to ensure aid is not used to help the country arrest drug traffickers, given that they can face the death penalty.

No country is more vocal than the UK in opposing the death penalty, but there are concerns that by funding counter-narcotics programmes, it is indirectly supporting execution of smugglers.

There was outrage two years ago when the Observer reported on the UK's role in funding Iran's counter-narcotics programme, which has seen thousands of drug traffickers arrested and hundreds executed.

Now questions are being asked about the UK's donations to Vietnam made via the UN, which funds initiatives to combat the country's long-standing heroin smuggling problem. Pressure groups fear the use of capital punishment in Vietnam is arbitrary and that death sentences are often passed when the accused has had inadequate legal representation. Many of those executed are "mules" coerced into smuggling by gangs.
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Well do your job and barter then, stupid politicians. If Vietnam want their aid money, they should be prepared for some under the table bartering for the lives of any condemned UK citizens, or even Vietnams drug sentencing policy in general. That is, unless the UK gov't doesn't really care about it, and is quite happy for people to be killed for possessing or dealing drugs...

I don't know wtf our gov't is doing sending millions in aid anyway, considering the massive flood damage in our country right now. Talk about twisted priorities.
 
^spending any money on preventing adults from putting whatever they want in their own bodies is already one of the biggest wastes of money of the last hundred years!...Actually giving money to another country so they can put on an idiotic little outfit with a tin badge and lock up their own citizen's is even more of a waste!

Why would England do this? So in some indirect way you can drive up the price of drugs in your own country and create more crime? Oh wait...it's because it will discourage everyone and make them go straight! And this at a time when programs to help people in need are being cut everywhere!
 
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It's fucking absurd, and it really, really pisses me off. Things aren't all roses in the UK: flood damage could cost billions, the NHS is just as bad as ever, yet they throw money away for no reason whatsoever. And a few million in aid to Vietnam is nothing compared to some of the shit these jokers can think of to spend our money on-just look at the "war" in Afghanistan, or the "war" against drugs-all of this costs a lot; were talking billions here that could improve the living standards for our own people.

And the bastards have the audacity to tell me I live in a democracy...sure, I can vote for somebody, but do I have any say whatsoever in what my tax money is spent on? Or have any say in any type of gov't policy, no matter how wasteful, unethical, or misguided?
 
Yeah, I know it. They feed all this swill down your throat about how "democracy is freedom", like it's this miraculous and noble thing that's gonna overcome the worlds problems, when in actual fact it doesn't really exist. There's only ever been one democracy in the true sense of the word-where the citizen actually has a voice in political decisions-and that was in Athens thousands of years ago.
 
Exactly right, especially about my native UK; we're this third-rate power still reeling from recession, with living standards for many terrible, but we're marching around the world like we're still the Empire, righting the worlds wrongs, sticking our noses into places we're neither wanted, needed, or welcomed. Cameron's a complete wanker, but it occurred to me that all politicians are complete wankers; all we can do is try to glean something trustworthy or respectable in one of them, pick them to lead the country, and then spend the next few years cursing their names for all the grand promises that nearly always turn out to be utter bullshit.
 
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