Children can lawfully be sentenced to death in 14 countries by lethal injection, hanging, shooting or stoning. In some States, children as young as seven are sentenced to life imprisonment. And in at least 40 States, children can still be handed corporal punishment including whipping, flogging, caning or amputation.
We cannot allow this to continue. We are stronger when we work together. We all have different skills, knowledge and time commitments that can help build a formidable challenge to these children’s rights abuses. Join us and campaign to end inhuman sentencing of children.
We undertake targeted advocacy at the international level, which has resulted in more and more UN bodies condemning inhuman sentencing of children. But this is not enough. National laws and practices need to change. We need campaigners in countries that still allow inhuman sentencing (check to see if yours is one) to join us to campaign against these barbaric acts.
Join our campaign to end inhuman sentencing - CRIN’s commitments
CRIN’s aim is to achieve a strong international and regional context for progress – and to support national campaigns in any other way we can. We are committed to providing the following:
- A dedicated section of the CRIN website, including detailed reports for each State known to allow inhuman sentencing. This will be continuously updated with reports on progress of the campaign in all States and any international and regional developments.
- Full information on the relevant international and regional human rights standards which require the immediate prohibition and elimination of all inhuman sentencing.
- Engagement of international human rights bodies and activists in the campaign, including through the dissemination of position statements which can be quoted and used in national campaigns.
- Information and advice on using legal action, including use of regional and international human rights mechanisms, to challenge inhuman sentencing when governments are not acknowledging and acting on their human rights obligations.
- An advocacy toolkit (below) with technical advice on developing a national strategy and campaigning for prohibition and elimination of inhuman sentencing.
- Access to experienced children’s rights advocates for detailed advice and support.
- Details of successful campaigns, key court judgements and other decisions.
- Advice and support in using Treaty Body reporting procedures and the Universal Periodic Review process at the Human Rights Council to increase pressure on governments to stop and prohibit inhuman sentencing.
Toolkit for campaigners
To help equip you - whether you are an NGO, lawyer, journalist, children’s rights campaigner or child yourself - to fight and campaign against inhuman sentencing of children in your country, CRIN has developed a dedicated advocacy toolkit on this issue. It includes advice on how to stay safe, mobilise campaigners to work together nationally, as well as how to best use the international human rights system.
There are many aspects to a campaign. Go to our guides section for more toolkits, information and advice on how to work with the media, undertake research, use the UN and regional human rights bodies and much more.
For more information and advice, and how to join the campaign email us at [email protected].
Ongoing national campaigns
We are currently working in partnership with national coalitions who are doing amazing work in Pakistan, the United States and Yemen. Click on the links to find out more and how you can get involved in these national campaigns.
Medical professionals - What you can do
CRIN’s research into the laws authorising inhuman sentencing shows that in many states the practice requires the involvement of medical practitioners. Yet international standards of medical ethics condemn such involvement. We hope that organisations representing the medical professions will be involved in the campaign and intensify their advocacy to end inhuman sentencing.
Who is supporting the campaign?
A number of international human rights experts have already expressed their support to the campaign. Click on the name below to read their statement:
- Thomas Hammarberg, Former Commissioner for Human Rights for the Council of Europe;
- Yanghee Lee, Former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child;
- Professor Manfred Nowak, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
- Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Author of the UN Study on Violence against Children, former Commissioner and Rapporteur on Children’s Rights, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States, Chairman of the International Commission of Inquiry for Syria;
- Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Violence against Children; and
- Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, Founder Trustee, Muslim Institute
