A Child is a Child
Background
The A Child is A Child project began in 2008 as a Canadian student-led initiative. The founders of the project - under the influence of Dennis Browne and Andrew Fitzgerald, local lawyers as well as law teachers - are mainly students from St. John's, Newfoundland. With an active awareness of the global injustice that is child executions, a coalition of students set out to inform and advocate all over the world. The initiative has spread rapidly, gaining the support of numerous high schools across the province and on an international level, and support from various social justice groups worldwide.
About Child Executions
Defined by the United Nations, a child is a person under the age of 18. Despite the fact that multiple countries have signed International Covenants that forbid them to execute anyone who has allegedly committed an offence before the age of 18, they continue to do so. Amnesty International has documented 26 executions of child offenders in Iran since 2005. In many cases, these minors have been imprisoned until the age of 18 and then executed. Currently, there are at least 134 minors on death row in Iran. Saudi Arabia and Somalia also have executed persons for crimes committed as children.
The Conventions
Article 6 Part (c) – Article 6 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights requires that the sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age.
Article 37 Part (a) - No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age;
References
- Unknown, "Convention on the Rights of the Child." Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights. 2003. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights . 6 Jul 2009 <http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm>.
- Unknown, "Child executions violate international law." Stop Child Executions. 2009. Stop Child Executions. 6 Jul 2009 <http://www.stopchildexecutions.com/>.
- Unknown, "Who We Are." A Child is A Child. 2009. A Child is A Child. 6 Jul 2009 <http://www.achildisachild.com/index.php/en/who-we-are.html>.