Alberto wrote:

>>So, now the USA is killing more than China or Iraq? :-)

Doug responded:
>From the Amnesty International news release ...
(snip)
>
>      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.
>

This is comparing apples to oranges.  I though we went over this on-list 
before.  The UN has no resolutions that say member countries are not allowed 
to have the death penalty.  The UN has resolutions that encourage members to 
abolish the death penalty, but no resolutions that say member countries are 
not allowed to have the death penalty.  I remember doing quite a bit of 
research on this one, and I or someone else who beat me to it posted this 
research on-list within the past 6 months or so.  I don't have time to dig 
through the archives right now to find that posting.

At any rate, the resolutions against Iraq are not recommendations but 
specific sanctions.  There are no resolutions that recommend that no one 
trades with Iraq execept in specific ways, there are resolutions that 
*forbid* countries from trading with Iraq except in those specific ways.  
Resolutions didn't *suggest* or *recommend* no-fly zones, they *created* 
those zones.

Apples and oranges.

Now, I'm not saying I agree with executing minors, heck, I'm not even saying 
I agree with the death penalty at all, but
1)  The Amnesty International article is factually incorrect in comparing 
the actions of the US to the actions of Iraq in this case, and
2)  There is no internationally recognized age of adulthood that I am aware 
of.  There is considerable difference between countries in this regard.  For 
example, someone posted to the list sometime in the past few months a link 
to a page that listed the "age of consent" (or maybe it was age of legal 
marriage?) for various countries, and that age ranged anywhere from 18 down 
to 12.

So who exactly is a child, and who is an adult?  What magically happens that 
makes a person a child the day before they turn 18, and an adult the next 
day *after* they have turned 18 (or 16 or 12 or whatever age defined by 
their culture)?

Reggie Bautista


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