The Islamic Republic of Iran signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991 and ratified it in 1994. Iran made the following reservation to its ratification: "If the text of the Convention is or becomes incompatible with the domestic laws and Islamic standards at any time or in any case, the Government of the Islamic Republic shall not abide by it."
Although Iran is bound by the Convention under international law, international human rights organizations and foreign governments have routinely criticized it for failing to uphold its obligations under the treaty.
History
The General Assembly of the League of Nations, of which Iran was a founding member, endorsed the Declaration of the Rights of the Child on 26 November 1924. In 1959 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child without a vote.
Iran signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 5 September 1991. The Iranian Majlis ratified the treaty on 13 July 1994. In addition, Iran has signed and ratified the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and has signed (but not ratified) the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. Iran has yet to sign the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure.
In 2016, Iran submitted its combined Third and Fourth periodic report on the implementation of the provisions of the CRC.
Implementation
On 3 January 2010, Iran established the National Body for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (NBCRC) under the Ministry of Justice. The NBCRC is responsible for supervising, organizing, and coordinating all issues related to children in Iran, at a national level through ministries and NGOs, and at a local level through the establishment of local offices managed by provincial governors. The NBCRC has established four specialized working groups to fulfill its mandates: the Monitoring and Controlling Group, the Legal and Judicial Working Group, the Training and Information Working Group, and the Protection and Coordination Working Group.
While its establishment was considered a positive step, the effectiveness of the NBCRC has been called into question by outside groups. In particular, its lack of independence and its limited powers to influence government policy outside of an advisory capacity has been raised. There is currently no National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) in Iran with the power to consider individual complaints and carry out investigations on behalf of children.
Legal status of children in Iran
Although the Islamic Republic of Iran has ratified the CRC,Access to Justice for Children: Islamic Republic of Iran, Child Rights International Network (CRIN), Feb 2015, 1 the law in Iran operates and gains legitimation only within an Islamic framework, which implies that any law has to conform to certain "Islamic criteria".Constitution, Islamic Republic of Iran, Article 4 The Islamic Republic of Iran has been urged multiple times by the United Nations Committee on the rights of the child to withdraw its reservation to the Convention, according to the CRC, which states that "A reservation incompatible with the object and purpose of the present Convention shall not be permitted."Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Article 51, point 2 As a consequence, children are subject to the arbitrary way in which "Islamic criteria" are interpreted by State Authorities, namely the Parliament (Majlis), the Supreme Leader and The Guardian Council.Birnbaum Lili, Cetinkaya Hasret, Harper Elizabeth, Legal Research Series. Legal Status of the Child: Iran's International Human Rights Obligations, University of Essex, June 2014, 16-18
It is possible for individual children to bring to court cases of abuse experienced by them. However, this does not apply to criminal cases. Children under the age of fifteen usually need to present their case in court through their guardian.Access to Justice for Children: Islamic Republic of Iran, Child Rights International Network (CRIN), Feb 2015, 2 According to the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, "The protection of the person who is under guardianship as well as his legal representation in all matters relating to his property and financial rights, are entrusted to the guardian."Iranian Civil Code (1928) amended 2006, Article 1235 This makes providing justice for children very unlikely when the perpetrator of violence is the guardian, usually the mother. The Iranian Law does not regard the child as an entity with their rights and legal recognition,Legal Research Series. Legal Status of the Child: Iran's International Human Rights Obligations, 20 and therefore does not respect the General Comment No.12 (2009) within the CRC regarding the child's right to be heard.
In 2013, more than 2,400 child abductions were reported to the Association for the Protection of the Rights of the Child in Iran. The Children's Rights Advocacy Association, which manages the telephone counseling line, (Sedayeh Yara) says 55 percent of the children have been subjected to psychological and emotional punishment and 45 percent are subject to physical punishment. According to the statistics by Shirin Sadr Nuri, a member of the Association for the Protection of Children's Rights, citing to ISNA news agency, 93% of those who contacted the association in 2013, were the mothers of the children, and three percent were the children themselves. Two percent of calls were from their fathers.
Children in the justice system
Age of criminal responsibility With regard to the definition of "child", the tendency within international law is that of setting the threshold between childhood and adulthood at eighteen years old. For instance, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has claimed that individuals should not be subject to imprisonment under the age of 18Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Article 37 (a) and should not be actively participating in conflicts under the age of 15.Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Article 38 The age of criminal responsibility is directly connected to the age of majority. On 10 February 2012, Iran's parliament changed the controversial law of executing juveniles. In the new law, the age of 18 (solar year) would be considered the minimum age for adulthood and offenders under this age will be sentenced under a separate law.
Corporal punishment Corporal punishment of children is not allowed in daycare centers according to article 8 (23) of the Amended Regulations for Establishment, Management, and Dissolution of All Forms of Day Care Centres (2008). The same law applies to juvenile correction centers. In fact, according to the Executive Regulations of the Prisons Organisation, Correction and Security Measures (2005), "Aggressive behavior, verbal abuse of the accused and convicts or administering harsh and insulting disciplinary measures are forbidden in any manner in institutions and prisons".Sharon Owen, Corporal punishment of children in Iran: Briefing for the Universal Periodic Review, Global Initiative, 2014, 3
According to the Iranian Constitution, "all forms of torture for the purpose of extracting confession or acquiring information are forbidden",Iranian Constitution (1979) amended 1989, Article 38 which conforms to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Article 7 However, there have been recent reports of torture and mistreatment by juvenile offenders, who were forced to confess by means of physical coercion. One of the latest cases was reported by Alireza Tajiki, who was arrested at the age of fifteen and convicted after confessing under torture the rape and the murder of a friend, crimes that he consistently withdrew in court.
Flogging as a criminal punishment is still in use in the Justice system of the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to the law stating the age of criminal responsibility, girls above nine and boys above fifteen are judged and punished according to the Iranian Penal Code, which also implies corporal punishment for crimes concerning sex, false accusation, use of alcohol, and caused an injury.Corporal Punishment of Children in Iran, Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, last updated 2016, 3-4 Therefore, girls above nine years old and boys above fifteen years old can be subject to flogging.Rights of the Child in Iran, Joint alternative report, March 2015, 26 However, if it is recognized that the offenders "do not realize the nature of the crime committed or its prohibition, or if there is uncertainty about their full mental development", corporal punishment cannot be applied and the offender will either be detained or charged with a fine.Iranian Penal Code (1991) amended 2013, Article 91 However, for Article 91 to be taken into consideration and be applied, it is required that the juvenile offender themselves claims the right to a retrial allowed by the mentioned article. The offenders below eighteen and their families are often unaware of this possibility and unable to afford a lawyer who can inform them about their rights, very few of them apply for a retrial.Growing Up On Death Row: The Death Penalty and Juvenile Offenders in Iran, Amnesty International (2016), 53
Corporal punishment in the home According to the Iranian Civil Code, "a child must obey its parents and must respect them regardless of their age"Iranian Civil Code (1928) amended 2006, Article 1177 and in case of disobedience or for educational purposes, Iranian law allows corporal punishment in the home as long as the perpetrator is the guardian of the child. According to the Iranian Civil Code, "parents are entitled to punish their children, but they must not abuse this right by punishing their children beyond the limits of correction".Iranian Civil Code (1928) amended 2006, Article 1179 Furthermore, the Islamic Penal Code states that "the acts committed by parents and legal guardians of minors and insane people to chastise or protect them provided that such actions are exercised within the customary limits, and religious limits for chastisement and protection".Iranian Penal Code (1991) amended 2013, Article 158 (d)
Execution of juvenile offenders
The death penalty is currently in use in Iran, and the percentage of executions has increased by 300% from 2008 to 2015.Iran Human Rights, Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran (2015), 6 Iran also detains the worldly record for the country executing the biggest number of juvenile offenders.Rights of the Child in Iran, Joint alternative report, March 2015, 39; Iran Human Rights, Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran (2015), 22 The percentage of executions of minors substantially increased and later dropped in 2015. However, at the beginning of 2016, 160 offenders were on death row in Iran for crimes that they had committed before they had turned 18.