UN URGED TO END EXECUTIONS OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS

as UN member states begin the debate on the rights of the child, more than 300 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from 82 countries called on the UN General Assembly to take urgent action to end executions for crimes committed by children, Human Rights Watch said. The number of juvenile executions has been rising. Five countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan and Yemen - have carried out 32 of these executions since January 2005, and have well over 100 other juvenile offenders on death row. "Groups from all over the world are saying that these executions are an outrage," said Clarisa Bencomo, researcher on children's rights for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch.
"The General Assembly should demand that countries stop these killings immediately and pass reforms so that no one is ever again executed for a crime committed as a child."
The petition urges UN member states to recognise the urgency of the current situation by calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions of juvenile offenders and commutation of existing death sentences to custodial or other sentences in conformity with international juvenile justice standards. States that prohibit the death penalty for juvenile offenders should ensure that essential safeguards are in place so that children are not mistakenly sentenced to death. These safeguards should include legal assistance, universal birth registration and training for judges and prosecutors in juvenile justice. The petition also calls on the General Assembly to request a report from the UN secretary-general on all states' compliance with the absolute ban on the juvenile death penalty, including information on the number of juvenile offenders currently on death row and the number executed during the last five years.