A/HRC/24/34 the Government of Yemen officially agreed on the Paris Commitments to end the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and groups in conflict; and the adoption of Cabinet resolution No. 1 2013 to review implementation of Yemeni commitment to end child recruitment in armed conflict. An interministerial committee chaired by the Minister of Legal Affairs including the Ministers of Defence, Interior and Human Rights was established to implement the Government’s commitments, by developing an action plan to end the recruitment and use of children. However, despite such progress, child recruitment and use is ongoing. In the 2012 Secretary-General’s report on children and armed conflict (A/67/845-S/2013/245), Ansar al-Sharia was added to the list of those who systematically recruit and use children among their forces.32 39. During the reporting period two juvenile offenders were executed after being convicted of murder.33 According to UNICEF, there are currently 31 minors on death row, and the President has endorsed the sentence for four of them. Over 150 minors are at high risk of receiving the death sentence if no immediate action is taken. 40. According to the Penal Code, courts may sentence juveniles convicted of murder only to a maximum of 10 years in prison and the Yemeni Juvenile Welfare Law requires courts to refer children 15 years of age and younger to the juvenile court system. This, however, leaves many juvenile offenders to defend their cases before adult criminal courts. In addition, sentences are often imposed on the basis of forced confessions or confessions given without having had access to legal counsel. 41. The issue of birth registration is considered one of the main challenges for the enjoyment of rights by children in Yemen such as the right to fair trial and protection from death penalty. According to information received by UNICEF, in 2006, the birth registration rate amounted to only 22.3 per cent and the registration of children within their first year accounted for just 21 per cent of the total registered births. Most minors in prison lack birth certificates, which poses difficulties for the determination of the age of juveniles at the time they committed an offence. In June 2013, the Minister of Justice created a Specialised Forensic Technical Committee, composed of three doctors. The Committee is mandated, inter alia, to assess the age of those accused of serious offences whose penalty may result in capital punishment where there is doubt about their ages at the time of the perpetration of the offence and to supervise and evaluate the cases of children appearing before courts in penal cases during investigation and the sentencing stages. 32 33 12 The so-called “name and shame list”. Since 2011, Yemen and its parties to the conflict has been listed. Currently the Al Houthi Movement, Government forces which includes Yemeni Armed Forces, the First Armoured Division, military police, the special security forces, the Republican Guards, and pro-Government militias (the Popular Committees), and Ansar al-Sharia are listed in this annex (A/67/845-S/2013/245, annex I). However, the list predates the restructuring of the Armed Forces of April 2003 (see para. 14 of the present report) that abolished the First Armoured Division and Republican Guards. Hind al-Barti (aged 15 at the time of the offence) was executed on 3 December 2012 and Muhammad Haza’a (under 18 at the time of the offence) was executed on 9 March 2013. In December 2012, the Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed deep dismay over the execution of Ms. Al-Barti. Noting that death sentences had already been imposed on 21 other juveniles aged under 18 at the time the offences occurred, the Chairperson of the Committee issued an urgent appeal to the Government of Yemen to both immediately halt all executions and take “effective measures to remove juvenile prisoners from death row.” See “UN Committee expresses its deep dismay concerning the continuing child executions in Yemen”, press release, Geneva, 12 December 2012. Available from www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12886&LangID=E.