A PROHIBITION ON EXECUTIONS OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS U N D E R I N T E R N AT I O N A L L AW The execution of offenders under the age of 18 years is squarely prohibited in international law by a number of multilateral treaties. The prohibition is determined by the age of the offender at the time of committing the alleged crime and does not cease when the juvenile turns 18. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Pakistan ratified in 1990, dictates under Article 37 (a) that “neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age.” Additionally, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) – ratified by Pakistan in 2008- under Article 6(4) states that “sentences of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by the persons below 18 years of age.” Intergovernmental bodies have also repeatedly called for the exclusion of child offenders from the death penalty on the basis that the use of the death penalty against child offenders is contrary to international law. Several of the relevant resolutions have been adopted without a vote, a sign of strong consensus among states that their provisions should be observed.13 For example, in 1984 the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted the Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty (“ECOSOC Safeguards”). Safeguard 3 of this instrument states: “Persons below 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime shall not be sentenced to death. . .” The ECOSOC Safeguards were endorsed by the UN General Assembly in resolution 39/118 of 14 December 1984, adopted without a vote. The international community realises that for the purposes of criminal justice children are inherently different from adults and thus merit special considerations throughout the legal process, particularly during sentencing. The ICCPR accordingly provides that “the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation and that the “accused juvenile persons will be separated from adults and bought as speedily as possible for adjudication.”14 Similarly the CRC reiterates these special protections mandating that every child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child’s best interest not to do so.”15 Capital punishment – the most severe of punishments - fails to take into account the child’s limited culpability and disallows opportunities for rehabilitation or redemption. Therefore, international law categorically prohibits the sentencing of juvenile offender to death and their executions. I PAKISTAN FACES CRITICISM FROM THE UNITED NATIONS Since lifting the moratorium on the death penalty, the Government of Pakistan has faced consistent criticism from the international diplomatic community on account of its failure to respect international human rights obligations. On 20 March 2015, four UN human rights experts urged the Government of Pakistan to halt the execution of juvenile offender, Shafqat Hussain, noting that “several hundred” prisoners on Pakistan’s death row “may have been sentenced for crimes they committed as children.” 16 The experts emphasized that “Shafqat’s confessions were obtained after he was reportedly tortured over a period of nine days by police officers after his arrest in 2004.” 17 The UN experts reiterated their condemnation of the imminent execution of Shafqat Hussain in June 2015.18 The experts stressed that, “Under Pakistani law and articles 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and 37.1 the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the death sentence cannot be imposed on a defendant who was under 18 at the time of the crime” 19 Amnesty International, The Exclusion of Child Offenders from the Death Penalty Under International Law,3, July 2013. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, art. 10(2)(b)[hereinafter ICCPR]. In Thomas v Jamaica, the detention of the defendant from the ages of 15 to 17 with adult prisoners violated article 10(2)(b) and (3). U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/49/D/321/1988 (1993). 15 United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child [hereinafter CRC], U.N. Doc. A/RES/44/25, art 37 (c) 16 Supra note 8 17 Id. 18 U.N Office of the Commissioner on Human Rights, Pakistan Must Immediately halt execution of Child Offender Shafqat Hussain- UN experts urge, (5 June 2015). http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16046&LangID=E 19 Id. 13 14 DEATH ROW’S CHILDREN 12