AN INTERNATIONAL CALL TO END ALL EXECUTIONS OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS:
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Implement the Prohibition against the Juvenile Death Penalty in Law and Practice
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Every state in the world has ratified or acceded to treaties obligating them to ensure that juvenile offenders--persons under 18 at the time of the crime-are never sentenced to death. The overwhelming majority of states comply with this obligation: only five states* are known to have executed juvenile offenders since 2005.
Yet over the last 3 ½ years at least 32 people in these five states have been executed for crimes committed while children, and well over 100 other juvenile offenders are known to be on death row. The true number of executions and death sentences could be much higher, as few countries make public information on death sentences against juvenile offenders.
The prohibition on the juvenile death penalty is absolute in treaty and customary law, but some states continue to execute juveniles offenders convicted of certain crimes, or allow judges to treat children as adults if the child shows signs of puberty. Even in states with clear legislation outlawing capital punishment for persons under 18 at the time of the crime, judges sometimes treat children as adults in capital cases because low rates of birth registration make it difficult for children to prove their age at the time of the crime, or because the child lacked access to competent legal assistance at crucial points during arrest, investigation and trial.
We, as local, national, regional, and international non-governmental organizations from every part of the world, call on each UN member state to fully implement the absolute ban on the juvenile death penalty, as required by customary law, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and as highlighted by the Secretary-General's recent study on violence against children.
We also urge United Nations member states at the 2008 UN General Assembly to:
1. Call on states that have yet to fully prohibit the juvenile death penalty to:
- Immediately enact legislation banning the imposition of capital punishment on persons who were under 18 at the time of the crime, without exceptions.
- Immediately implement a moratorium on all executions of persons convicted of crimes committed before age 18, pending passage of legislation banning the juvenile death penalty.
- Review all existing death sentences passed on persons who were under 18 at the time of the crime and immediately commute those sentences to custodial or other sentences in conformity with international juvenile justice standards.
2. Call on states that have banned the juvenile death penalty to:
- Ensure that children in conflict with the law have prompt access to legal assistance, including assistance in proving their age at the time of an alleged offense, and require police, prosecution, and judicial authorities to record the ages of children who come before them.
- Promote universal birth registration.
- Ensure that judicial authorities understand and enforce the ban on the juvenile death penalty, including by providing judges and prosecutors with training on its application, and by ordering a review of all death sentences where there is doubt that the individual was over 18 at the time of the offense.
3. Request the UN Secretary General to submit a report to the 64th session of the General Assembly on compliance with the absolute ban on the juvenile death penalty, including information on
- the number of juvenile offenders currently sentenced to death, and the number executed during the last 5 years;
- rates of birth registration
- states' implementation of relevant domestic legislation, including mechanisms ensuring juvenile offenders have legal assistance at all stages of investigation and trial;
- any other obstacles to full implementation of the ban on the juvenile death penalty.
Deadline for signing the petition is 13 October. NOTE: please note that this petition is for organizations, not individuals.
Thank you.
*Between January 1, 2005 and September 2, 2008, the following states are known to have executed 32 juvenile offenders: Iran (26), Saudi Arabia (2), Sudan (2), Pakistan (1), Yemen (1).
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