The USA continues to defy the United Nations and flout international law in its pursuit of the death penalty against children, Amnesty International said today, as it released two new reports on the execution of people who were under 18 at the time of the crime.
"Two thirds of the known executions of child offenders in the past decade were carried out in the USA", the organization said. "It is clear that the United States is the world's leading perpetrator of this universally condemned human rights violation."
In his recent speech on Iraq to the UN General Assembly, President George Bush spoke of "broken treaties", UN resolutions being "unilaterally subverted", and of the USA's wish for the UN to be "effective, and respected, and successful".
"The execution of child offenders leaves treaties just as broken, resolutions just as subverted, and respect for the UN and international law just as undermined," Amnesty International said.
One of the two Amnesty International reports focusses specifically on the USA. It was prompted by the recent US Supreme Court decision that the execution of people with mental retardation violates the constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual" punishment. In Atkins v Virginia, the Court concluded that US "standards of decency" had evolved to the point that there was a "national consensus" against such executions.
"Two thirds of the known executions of child offenders in the past decade were carried out in the USA", the organization said. "It is clear that the United States is the world's leading perpetrator of this universally condemned human rights violation."
In his recent speech on Iraq to the UN General Assembly, President George Bush spoke of "broken treaties", UN resolutions being "unilaterally subverted", and of the USA's wish for the UN to be "effective, and respected, and successful".
"The execution of child offenders leaves treaties just as broken, resolutions just as subverted, and respect for the UN and international law just as undermined," Amnesty International said.
One of the two Amnesty International reports focusses specifically on the USA. It was prompted by the recent US Supreme Court decision that the execution of people with mental retardation violates the constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual" punishment. In Atkins v Virginia, the Court concluded that US "standards of decency" had evolved to the point that there was a "national consensus" against such executions.