In a speech urg­ing U.S. lead­ers to rat­i­fy the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which for­bids the exe­cu­tion of juve­nile offend­ers, President Jimmy Carter not­ed that the United States and Somalia are the only two coun­tries in the U.N. that have not approved the guide­lines. ​“My wife (Rosalyn) writes let­ters to the gov­er­nors of each state when a child is going to be exe­cut­ed,” Carter not­ed as he praised his wife’s work to end the juve­nile death penal­ty. Carter added that America’s objec­tion to the CRC because it for­bids the juve­nile death penal­ty weak­ens the United Nation’s abil­i­ty to fight for chil­dren’s rights in oth­er areas of law, includ­ing a ban on the use of juve­nile sol­diers. ​“These kids are often 8 and 10 years old, and all they have are AK-47s. The United States is seen as the most promi­nent world leader…yet, by not sup­port­ing the UN Convention, oth­er coun­tries see that the United States does not have an intense com­mit­ment to the rights of chil­dren.” (The Emery Wheel, October 22, 2003) See Juvenile Death Penalty.

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