Montreal, October 21th, 2025 – The shooting death of 15-years-old Nooran Rezayi by a police officer a month ago challenges us all and reminds us of the urgent need for serious reflection on adolescence, violence and inclusion.  

The association between adolescence and gun violence is experiencing a worrying resurgence in public debate, media coverage, and political discourse. While these discussions are not directly connected, they create fertile ground for a climate of mistrust toward young people, who are at high risk of going astray, as tragically illustrated by what happened to Nooran. 

Listen. Engage in dialogue. Recognizing the systemic discrimination experienced by some adolescents and the resulting differential treatment is essential to enable them to fully occupy their rightful place in society. 

Nooran, like all the others, was a child. And Quebec, as well as Canada, has an obligation under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure that every child’s rights are fully respected.  

As the International Bureau for Children’s Rights (IBCR), an international organization based in Canada, we once again draw attention to real or perceived setbacks in the provision of child-friendly and non-discriminatory justice for children. We reaffirm the importance of an approach to childhood and adolescence that recognises the uniqueness of this life stage and ensures the creation of environments where young people can flourish without being stigmatised or criminalised.  

Because respect for children’s rights is everyone’s business, the IBCR will soon propose a concrete initiative aimed at ensuring the effectiveness of appropriate justice and promoting a more inclusive society in Quebec.  

To make children’s rights a reality.  

Founded in 1994, with its headquarters in Montreal (Canada) and currently active in some fifteen countries, the International Bureau for Children’s Rights (IBCR) is committed to a world in which children’s rights are a reality, focusing on children who face the most obstacles to achieving this. Its mission is to transform the place of these children in our societies and to strengthen child protection and justice systems.