Senator HANSON-YOUNG (9:46 AM) —I move:

   That the Senate—

(a)   notes that:

(i)   according to Human Rights Watch, three Iranian men have been sentenced to death, under charges of ‘male homosexual conduct’ allegedly committed when they were under the age of 18,

(ii)   Iran leads the world in executing juvenile offenders, with at least seven in 2008, and at least three so far in 2009, and

(iii)   in February 2009, the United Nations General Assembly called on Iran, as signatories to both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for crimes committed before the age of 18, immediately to suspend executions of all persons for offences committed by children under 18; and

(b)   calls on the Australian Government to add its voice to international calls for Iran immediately to abolish the death penalty of persons who were under age 18 at the time of their offence and halt all executions of those sentenced to death.