10 October 2009, World DayAgainst the Death Penalty

APPEAL FOR AN END TO EXECUTIONS OF JUVENILES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

In 2007, eleven juveniles (persons under 18 at the time of the crime for which they were sentenced to death) were executed: eight in Iran, two in Saudi Arabia and one in Yemen. In 2008, at least 8 juveniles were executed in Iran according to Amnesty International and at least 140 others were believed to be on death row, according to Stop Child Executions. For the first semester of 2009, at least five juveniles have been executed: three in Iran and two in Saudi Arabia. In Sudan, four 17 year olds are currently reported to be on trial for alleged participation in the Khartoum attacks, while one 17 year old and one reported 16 year old were sentenced to death in July and August 2008, according to the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan.

According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, “neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age” (art.37)

In the 20th anniversary year of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and on the 7th World Day against the Death Penalty, we, the undersigned, call on the authorities in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen to thoroughly respect and implement the international commitments they already endorsed and to end all executions of juveniles.