The UN experts basically reiterate the same concerns as in 2000, regarding notably the age of majority, discrimination on the ground of sex or the use of the death penalty against minors. “It is a shame for our country that the authorities did not adopt enough concrete measures to make sure that children’s rights are fully protected in Iran”, said Shirin Ebadi, Secretary General of the DHRC.
The UN Committee reitrates its “deep concern that the age of majority is set at pre-defined ages of puberty for boys at 15 and for girls at 9, because it implies that boys from 15 to 18 years and girls from 9 to 18 years are not covered by the provisions of the CRC”. The UN experts also express their deep concern “at the persisting discrimination of girls and women” and notably point to the high drop out rates of girls in rural schools upon reaching puberty. They declare the domestic provision on the custody of children after divorce as arbitrary and contrary to the CRC. That provision prevents the court from taking the best interests of the child into account when deciding about who should get the child’s custody as “the custody is determined on the basis of the child’s age and is discriminatory against the mother”.
The UN experts deplore the fact that executions of persons having committed crimes before the age of 18 have continued, including on the very day of the examination of Iran’s report by the Committee. The Bill on the Establishment of Juvenile courts recently proposed by the government would notably abolish the death penalty for crimes committed by persons under 18. However, the Bill is yet to be adopted by the Council of Guardians, which blocked numerous progressive draft legislations in the past. In addition, the Committee deeply regrets that “persons below 18 who have committed a crime can be subjected to corporal punishment and can be sentenced to amputation, flogging or stoning”. The Committee considers those punishments totally incompatible with the CRC.
The Committee also points to discrimination against children on account of their father’s nationality; that situation currently affects a large number of children whose mothers are Iranian and fathers Afghan. Those children have no birth certificate and no nationality. In addition, children [of Afghan refugees] whose parents are not registered in Iran cannot be enrolled in schools, while refugee children cannot attend school free of charge.
The UN experts regret that cooperation with NGOs remains “selective and limited”. Indeed, independent NGOs in Iran are not recognised by the authorities, and their members are regularly harassed.
“We hope that this time, the Iranian authorities will seriously take into account the recommendations from the UN experts. Submitting reports to the UN treaty bodies is only one side of the coin - it remains meaningless if the recommendations are not duly implemented”, concluded Karim Lahidji, President of the LDDHI and Vice-President of the FIDH.