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	Human rights situation grim in Sudan - UN report by Reuters   15 Sep 2008   Sudan''s human rights situation is grim with killings of civilians by government and rebel forces and arbitrary arrests and torture for political reasons, a United Nations investigator said on Monday.   Sima Samar, in a report for the U.N. Human Rights Council, said breaches of humanitarian law were being committed not only in the long-troubled Darfur region in the west but also in other parts of the country, including the south.   "Despite some steps by the government of Sudan, principally in the area of law reform, the human rights situation on the ground remains grim, with many interlocutors even reporting an overall deterioration," she wrote.   Samar, a former deputy prime minister of Afghanistan, said Sudanese government forces had attacked civilians by land and air in Darfur and other serious incidents had occurred in fighting between Darfuri rebel groups.   Serious rights violations had also occured when one insurgent group in Darfur attacked the city of Omdurman in May, and in fighting the same month between the Sudanese national armed forces and troops of the government of south Sudan.   Similar abuses had occurred in clashes between troops of the south, whose dominant Sudan People''s Liberation Movement (SPLM) is part of a coalition government in Khartoum, and villagers in the Eastern Equatorial region, Samar said.   The SPLM joined a coalition national unity government with the north''s dominant National Congress Party under a 2005 peace deal ending a long civil war, but relations between the two sides have remained strained. Samar''s report, to be discussed in the 47-member Rights Council on Tuesday, said it was essential that impartial, transparent and comprehensive investigations be held into all allegations of rights abuses.   She said concerns were mounting over violations not only of general human rights but also of civil and political rights in different parts of the country as preparations for general elections get under way.   "There have been widespread allegations of arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, incommunicado detention and serious violations of the right to a fair trial" since the start of the year, she said.   Samar said one of her principal concerns about the situation in Sudan, for which she has been special investigator for the U.N. since 2005, was impunity, or the failure to punish people responsible for rights abuse.
	Campaign to End Juvenile Death Penalty by CRIN / Human Rights Watch   Oct 18, 2008   Iran''s Government has told the country''s judges to stop sentencing minors to death.   Amnesty International has called Iran the world''s last executioner of children and says six people have been hanged this year for crimes they committed as minors.   The organisation has welcomed the news that the practice is apparently about to end in Iran. Reports say Iran''s assistant attorney general has directed the country''s judges not to impose the death sentence on minors anymore.   Sept 2008   Campaign to End Juvenile Death Penalty. (Child Rights Information Network)   Join a global initiative to end once and for all the practice of executing people for crimes committed as children.   Today, although every country in the world is party to treaties prohibiting the death penalty for juvenile offenders, there are still five states-Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Yemen-that continue to execute child offenders. Over the past three years, these five states* have executed 32 juvenile offenders, and have over 100 juvenile offenders still are on death row.   A change in practice by these five states would result in universal adherence to the ban on juvenile executions. We invite NGOs -local, national, regional and international-to sign the petition calling for strong action by this year"s UN General Assembly to make the ban on juvenile executions a reality.   Together, CRIN and Human Rights Watch will present these signatures to UN member states in mid-October, in advance of their debate on the rights of the child, to demonstrate the conviction of NGOs around the world that no one should ever be executed again for a crime committed as a child. We hope to have NGO signatures from as many parts of the world as possible, and invite you to circulate the petition to your partners.   *Between January 1, 2005 and September 2, 2008, the following states are known to have executed 32 juvenile offenders: Iran (26), Saudi Arabia (2), Sudan (2), Pakistan (1), Yemen (1).   You can sign the petition via the link below. The deadline for sign-ons is October 15.   2 September 2008   UN urges Iran not to impose death penalty on juveniles, by Rupert Colville.   The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has urged Iran not to impose the death penalty on juvenile offenders, following reports that two minors were recently put to death, in violation of the country’s obligations under international law.   Reza Hedjazi is believed to have been executed on 19 August and Behnam Zaare on 26 August. They are reported to have been 15 and 16, respectively, when they committed their crimes.   “These executions appear to be in clear violation of international law which contains an absolute prohibition of the death penalty for juvenile offenders,” OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told a news conference in Geneva.   Mr. Colville pointed out that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both of which Iran has ratified, prohibit the death penalty for crimes committed by people below the age of 18.   OHCHR is also concerned that two other juvenile offenders, Mohammad Fadaaee and Amir Amrollahi, also face an imminent risk of execution.   “We urge the Government of Iran to stay the executions of both of them in strict compliance with its international human rights obligations, and not to impose the death penalty for juvenile offenders in the future,” said Mr. Colville.   OHCHR is also concerned over reports of a recent increase in the number of executions in Iran, noting that more than 220 people, including six juvenile offenders, are believed to have been executed this year. Visit the related web page
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