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Recommendations

Meaningful action by a small handful of states to ban the juvenile death penalty in all its forms and to ensure the fundamental rights of children in conflict with the law would result in universal adherence with the well-established prohibition against the juvenile death penalty.

Governments in states that have yet to prohibit the juvenile death penalty for all crimes should

  1. Enact as a matter of urgency legislation banning the imposition of capital punishment or life without parole on persons who were under 18 at the time of the crime, without exceptions;
  2. 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;
  3. 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.

Governments in states that have banned the juvenile death penalty should

  1. 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;
  2. Promote universal birth registration;
  3. 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.

The UN and its member states should

1. Support the efforts of governments and civil society to ensure the fundamental rights of children in conflict with the law, including through technical and financial assistance.

2. Request the UN Secretary-General, with the assistance of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 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

a) the number of juvenile offenders currently sentenced to death, and the number executed during the last 5 years;

b) rates of birth registration;

c) states’ implementation of relevant domestic legislation, including mechanisms ensuring juvenile offenders have legal assistance at all stages of investigation and trial;

d)  any other obstacles to full implementation of the ban on the juvenile death penalty.

3. Provide the Secretary-General with information on legislation and practice relating to the use of the death penalty against juvenile offenders.



September 2008

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