The International Campaign for children's Rights is a voluntary independent organization which has the protection of basic civil and human rights of children as a primary goal. With this policy statement, Children First Now (CFN) express its strong opposition to the juvenile death penalty in Iran and call upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to abolish the practice of executing juvenile offenders. In June 2008, the United Nations human rights arm asked Iran not to execute four offenders sentenced to death over crimes committed when they were minors, including Behnoud Shojaie. Behnoud was hanged on Sunday 11th of October by Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran has executed at least three juvenile offenders so far this year, executed at least seven in 2008 and about 140 other juvenile offenders were known to be on death row according to Amnesty International. Iran leads all countries of the world in executing juvenile offenders, despite the fact that Islamic Republic of Iran is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which stipulates that members cannot execute convicts found guilty of committing crimes as minors. The imposition of the death penalty for juvenile offenders represents the ultimate rejection of the International law . The juvenile justice system should be based on the principle that young people who commit crimes should have an opportunity for rehabilitation and treatment. The execution of offenders who were under age 18 at the time of their crime is expressly prohibited by international law in several treaties, such as the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child, the American Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and numerous resolutions and reports by other international bodies such as the European Union, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and the United Nations Sub-Commission on Human Rights The International Campaign for children's Rights and the International Committee Against Execution have added our voices to the emerging national and international consensus on this issue. We urgently request the international community to swiftly act and pressure the Islamic Republic of Iran Supreme Court to abolish the practice of executing juvenile offenders.   International Campaign for children's Rights http://www.barnenforst.com/ International Committee Against Execution http://www.adpi.net/