A/HRC/40/67 creates doubt and ambiguity which makes it all but impossible” for the Islamic Republic of Iran to import “these urgently needed humanitarian goods. This ambiguity causes a ‘chilling effect’ which is likely to lead to silent deaths in hospitals as medicines run out, while the international media fail to notice.”61 III. Execution of child offenders A. Introduction 36. The execution of child offenders is prohibited by international law, regardless of the age of the accused when the execution takes place. This prohibition is enshrined within the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and customary international law. In 2003, the Commission on Human Rights affirmed that international law established that the execution of child offenders was in contravention of customary international law.62 37. Numerous human rights mechanisms have called upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to stop sentencing children to death, including the Committee on the Rights of the Child,63 the Human Rights Committee, 64 the General Assembly, 65 the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 66 and special procedure mandate holders. 67 Successive Secretaries-General of the United Nations have raised this issue, in 10 previous reports on the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as in public statements. 68 During universal periodic reviews, numerous States have recommended that the Islamic Republic of Iran end the executions. In 2010, the recommendation to “consider the abolition of juvenile execution” was supported by the Government,69 and in 2014 the recommendation to “ban executions of juvenile offenders, while at the same time providing for alternative punishments in line with the new Iranian Penal Code” was partially supported. 70 The Islamic Republic of Iran explicitly accepted the obligation to prohibit such executions through its ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 38. The Special Rapporteur deeply regrets, however, that the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to sentence children to death “far more often than any other State”.71 Girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 15 can be sentenced to death. Information received indicates that at least 61 child offenders have been executed since 2008.72 At least six child offenders were executed in 2018. All were aged between 14 and 17 at the time of the alleged commission of the crime, and all were executed on the basis of qisas for the crime of murder. According to previous reports, 5 child offenders were executed in 2017,73 5 in 2016, 74 4 in 201575 and 13 in 2014.76 Credible information received indicates that there are at least 85 child offenders 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23469&LangID=E. See Commission on Human Rights resolution 2003/67. CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4, para. 36. CCPR/C/IRN/CO/3, para. 13. See General Assembly resolution 73/181. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23689&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23216&LangID=E. United Nations, “Secretary-General, concerned at worrying trend of executions in Iran, reaffirms United Nations opposition to death penalty”, 19 October 2015, available at https://www.un.org/press/en/2015/sgsm17247.doc.htm. A/HRC/14/12, para. 90 (40). A/HRC/28/12, para. 138.156; and A/HRC/28/12/Add.1, para. 7 (b). See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22664&LangID=E. Six executions were documented in 2018. Fifty-five executions were reported from 2008 to 2017. See Iran Human Rights and Ensemble contre la peine de mort, annual report 2017, p. 27, available at https://iranhr.net/en/articles/3258/. See A/HRC/37/68, para. 19. See A/HRC/34/40, para. 18. See A/71/418, para. 21. See A/HRC/28/70, para. 15. 9