A/HRC/40/67 currently on death row in the Islamic Republic of Iran and that 21 children have been sentenced to death since 2013. 39. In 2013, the Government amended the Penal Code to give judges the discretion to exempt children from the death penalty if the judge assesses that the child did not realize the nature of the crime or if there is uncertainty about his or her mental development. It stated that its policy was to seek to avoid executions through mediation when possible. In comments provided, it also highlighted the importance of restorative justice and juvenile rehabilitation. The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to continue to review existing policies with a view to prohibiting the execution of child offenders, in line with its international treaty commitments. The present report seeks to support such efforts. B. Legal framework 1. International legal framework 40. In 1975, the Islamic Republic of Iran ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights without reservation. In article 6 (5) of the Covenant, it is stated that the ���sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age …”. In 1994, the Islamic Republic of Iran ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stipulates in its article 37 (a) that “neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age”. In both cases, the explicit and decisive criterion is the age at the time of the alleged commission of the offence. The Human Rights Committee has stated that if there is no reliable and conclusive proof that the person was not below the age of 18 at the time that the crime was committed, he or she will have the right to the benefit of the doubt and the death penalty cannot be imposed. 77 41. Upon ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Islamic Republic of Iran made a reservation stating that it “reserves the right not to apply any provisions or articles of the Convention that are incompatible with Islamic Laws and the international legislation in effect”. Article 19 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, of 1969, provides that reservations should not be incompatible with the object and purpose of the treaty. In 2016, the Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that the Islamic Republic of Iran withdraw it accordingly, 78 in the light of article 51 (2) of the Convention in which it is specified that “a reservation incompatible with the object and purpose of the present Convention shall not be permitted”. In response, the Government noted that the provisions of the Convention are “legally binding in the country”.79 42. The prohibition of imposing the death penalty on children is widely considered to form part of the jus cogens category of norms of international law. No derogation or deviation from such peremptory norms is permissible. This jus cogens character is reflected by almost complete unanimity in calls to end the practice, which continues in only a few States. In its comments, the Government disagreed that the prohibition formed part of jus cogens. 2. National legal framework (a) Age of criminal responsibility 43. Substantial inconsistencies exist within Iranian legislation and the Iranian justice system which mean that girls aged 9 and boys aged 15 can be sentenced to death for certain crimes, whereas children aged up to 18 are sentenced to correctional measures for other crimes. 77 78 79 10 See the Committee’s general comment No. 36 (2018) on the right to life. CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4, paras. 9–10. Supplementary response of the National Body on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, para. 1, available from https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/ Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCRC%2fCOB%2fIRN%2f23480&Lang=en.