IX. EXECUTING JUVENILES Pakistan fails to respect its special obligations to protect juveniles. International law recognizes that, for the purposes of criminal justice, children are inherently different from adults and thus merit special considerations throughout the legal process, particularly at sentencing. International law clearly, repeatedly, and categorically condemns use of the death penalty for offenses committed by juveniles. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which Pakistan ratified in 1990, dictates that “neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age.”203 Moreover, the ICCPR states: “Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age. . . .”204 These binding prohibitions reflect a universal and unqualified protection of juveniles from the death penalty. Crimes committed by juveniles often derive from youthful impulse, underdeveloped faculty for reasoned decision-making, or fear.205 Despite their diminished capacity for self-control, juveniles also maintain a greater capacity for self-improvement, and consequently should be given a sentence that reflects that opportunity for rehabilitation.206 Compared to adult defendants, juveniles' lessened capacity to make legal decisions only necessitates a heightened need for effective and competent legal counsel. The Human Rights Committee commentary reflects this view, noting the involvement of parents or legal guardians where appropriate, as well as an obligation for “appropriate assistance in the preparation and presentation of their defense.”207 While “[j]uveniles are to enjoy at least the same guarantees and protection as are accorded to adults,” they additionally require “special protection” and treatment “in a manner commensurate with their age.”208 As a result of physiological and psychological differences, juveniles need proceedings that are fundamentally more protective than those accorded to their adult counterparts. Capital punishment, the most severe form of state retribution, wholly disregards a child's “limited culpability, circumscribed choices, and enhanced potential for redemption.”209 Pakistan has failed to implement these standards in violation of its international legal obligations. The ICCPR provides that “the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation”210 and that “[a]ccused juvenile persons shall be separated from adults and brought as speedily as possible for adjudication.”211 Moreover, “[d]etention before and during trial should be avoided to the extent possible.”212 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 and shall have the right to maintain contact with his or her family through correspondence and visits . . . .”213 A “MOST SERIOUS CRIME”: PAKISTAN'S UNLAWFUL USE OF THE DEATH PENALTY 25