A/HRC/24/18 VI. Use of the death penalty against children, persons with mental or intellectual disabilities and other vulnerable groups A. Children 62. In accordance with Article 37 (a) of the Convention of the Rights of the Child and Article 6 (5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the death penalty cannot be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age. General Assembly resolutions on Human Rights in the Administration of Justice (67/166) and on moratorium on the use of the death penalty (67/176), both adopted in 2012, reaffirmed this principle. 63. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and human rights organizations reported that several States, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, are known to have executed children in the past year. In accordance with the Child Rights International Network (CRIN), 15 countries continued to maintain the death penalty for children in their legislation during the reference period.64 64. During the period under review, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children continued her global advocacy for the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against children, including the risks of death penalty. Through advocacy and policy dialogue with Member States, the Special Representative placed special emphasis on the enactment of national legislation banning capital punishment and all forms of violence against children and called on States to take all necessary measures to immediately suspend the execution of all death penalties imposed for crimes committed by persons below the age of 18. The abolition of the death penalty has also been identified as a critical area of concern in the “Joint report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children on prevention of and responses to violence against children within the juvenile justice system”, to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/21/25). 65. In some States, the lack of birth registration and difficulties in determining the age of children leave unenforced the explicit prohibition of the death penalty for persons under 18 at the time of offence. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children recommended that, where it is not possible to conclusively determine the age of the child at the time of offence, she or he should be presumed to be below 18. All these cases should be reviewed in full conformity with international human rights norms and standards.65 66. Human Rights Watch published a report entitled “Look at Us with a Merciful Eye”, which discusses cases of juvenile offenders who are awaiting execution in Yemen, and recommends, inter alia, that the President of Yemen “order a review of all death sentences where there is doubt that the individual was at least 18 at the time of offence”, and “commute all sentences when evidence regarding an offender’s age remains inconclusive.”66 64 65 66 Submission of CRIN for this report, March 2013. Submission of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children for this report, April 2013. Human Rights Watch, “Look at Us with a Merciful Eye”, New York, 2013, available at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2013/03/04/look-us-merciful-eye. 15