Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

List of issues in relation to the initial report of the Islamic Republic of Iran *

A.Purpose and general obligations (arts. 1-4)

1.Please inform the Committee about the legal status of the Convention and whether its provisions can be directly invoked before courts.

2.Please provide information about whether and when the State party will ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention.

3.Please explain the implication of the general reservation by the State party and indicate whether and when the State party will withdraw its general reservation to the Convention.

4.Please indicate how the State party will bring the Comprehensive Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities of 2004 into line with the Convention regardless of the cause of the disability. Please also inform the Committee how the policies and programmes carried out by the State Welfare Organization include the human rights model of disability and whether any independent mechanism is in place to monitor that Organization.

5.Please indicate whether the State party provides support to national and local associations of persons with disabilities and how those organizations are involved in decision-making processes concerning legislation, public policies and budgeting.

B.Specific rights

Equality and non-discrimination (art. 5)

6.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to adopt anti-discrimination legislation, including the prohibition of disability-based discrimination and the recognition that the denial of reasonable accommodation constitutes discrimination, with effective legal remedies and sanctions.

7.Please provide information about the situation of persons with disabilities who are members of ethnic, religious, linguistic minorities or who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex, and on the safeguards in place to ensure they are equally included in public policies and programmes for the protection of persons with disabilities.

Women with disabilities (art. 6)

8.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to eliminate intersectional and multiple forms of discrimination against women with disabilities, including through repealing discriminatory legislation in all areas of life.

9.Please provide information about the measures in place to tackle all forms of violence against women and girls with disabilities.

Children with disabilities (art. 7)

10.Please provide updated information about the status of the reorganization plan to support children with disabilities and about the measures taken to protect the rights of children with disabilities belonging to minority groups.

11.Please inform the Committee about the measures in place to ensure that decisions concerning children with disabilities take into account their opinion through their representative organizations.

Accessibility (art. 9)

12.Please indicate whether the provision in article 2 of the Comprehensive Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities 2004 and the seven national standards cover all aspects of accessibility in line with the Convention and whether any monitoring mechanisms are in place to ensure sanctions for lack of compliance.

Right to life (art. 10)

13.Please inform the Committee about persons with disabilities who have been sentenced to death and on the measures taken towards abolishing the death penalty.

Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies (art. 11)

14.Please indicate the steps and measures taken to ensure disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction in all aspects.

Equal recognition before the law (art. 12)

15.Please inform the Committee about the number of persons with disabilities currently under guardianship and about steps taken to repeal provisions that deny or restrict legal capacity and to establish a mechanism that provides for supported decision-making for persons with disabilities, particularly in the area of ownership, inheritance and family relations.

Access to justice (art. 13)

16.Please provide information about the measures in place to provide procedural and reasonable accommodation and age-related accommodations for persons with disabilities in judicial proceedings.

17.Please inform the Committee how the Offices for the Protection of the Rights of Women and Children provide services for, in particular, women and children with disabilities. Please indicate how many persons with disabilities belonging to language minorities have been beneficiaries of legal counselling.

Liberty and security of the person (art. 14)

18.Please provide information about the measures taken to prevent and prohibit the detention of persons on the basis of impairment .

19.Please inform the Committee about the number of persons with disabilities in detention and about provisions on reasonable accommodation.

20.Please provide information on about the number of persons with disabilities declared incompetent to stand trial for reasons of impairment and what measures and safeguards apply to them.

Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 15)

21.Please inform the Committee on the occurrence of practices of torture and ill-treatment of persons with disabilities and protection mechanisms, including independent monitoring, with a particular focus on psychiatric institutions or any other detention facilities.

22.Please provide information on the steps made towards abolishing criminal sentences, which cause impairments.

Freedom from violence and abuse (art. 16)

23.Please inform the Committee about the measures in place to combat all forms of violence against women and children with disabilities, including sexual violence, and to abolish all forms of corporal punishment and harmful practices, including early marriage. Please also inform the Committee about the remedies and redress, inclusive and accessible victim support services, reporting and complaint mechanisms available for persons with disabilities.

24.Please provide information about the measures taken to prevent and combat trafficking of children with disabilities, in particular exploitation through forced begging.

Protecting the integrity of the person (art. 17)

25.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to prohibit and prevent forced sterilization of persons with disabilities and their subjection to scientific research without their free, prior and informed consent.

Living independently and being included in the community (art. 19)

26.Please provide information about the strategies and resources in place for deinstitutionalization, including through the provision of accessible services in the community and personal assistance, and about the number of persons with disabilities in institutions.

Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information (art. 21)

27.Please inform the Committee about whether Persian sign language is recognized as an official language, and the number of qualified sign language interpreters there are, including among linguistic minorities.

28.Please indicate whether braille is recognized as an official script.

29.Please inform the Committee about the measures in place to ensure that the mass media provides information in accessible modes, means and formats of communication for persons with disabilities.

Education (art. 24)

30.Please provide updated information on the inclusion of “special students” into regular schools and the human, technical and financial resources allocated for inclusion, and the involvement of organizations for persons with disabilities.

31.Please provide information about the number of education centres that are inclusive of and accessible to children with disabilities and that provide reasonable accommodation for such children.

Health (art. 25)

32.Please provide information on access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls with disabilities.

33.Please indicatethe number of health-care facilities that are accessible for persons with disabilities and inform the Committee about their geographical distribution and resources allocated.

Work and employment (art. 27)

34.Please indicate the number of persons with disabilities who have access to the grants of the Employment Opportunity Fund, disaggregated by sex and age and ethnic background. Please inform the Committee about whether the Fund provides for reasonable accommodation on employment.

35.Please inform the Committee about public campaigns and programmes to promote employment of persons with disabilities in the private sector and in all areas of the open labour market.

Adequate standard of living and social protection (art. 28)

36.Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure that women, children and persons with disabilities belonging to minority groups have access to social programmes such as housing and to programmes to tackle poverty and extreme poverty.

37.Please provide information, disaggregated by impairment, sex, age, ethnic background and war veteran status, about the percentage of persons with disabilities who are beneficiaries of social programmes, such as payment of financial aids for in-home care, disability pension and complementary medical insurance. Please inform the Committee about the number of persons with disabilities belonging to ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities who have received disability pension.

Participation in political and public life (art. 29)

38.Please provide information about the measures in place to repeal provisions from the Elections Act of Islamic Consultative Assembly, which restricts persons with disabilities’ exercise of political rights.

39.Please indicate the measures taken to ensure accessibility of all election procedures, including voting facilities.

C.Specific obligations (arts. 31-33)

Statistics and data collection (art. 31)

40.Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to develop a system of data collection in accordance with the Convention and in close consultation with organizations of persons with disabilities.

National implementation and monitoring (art. 33)

41.Please provide information about the appointment of a focal point in charge of interministerial coordination of the implementation of the Convention at the national and provincial levels.

42.Please indicate the steps taken to establish a national monitoring mechanism in line with article 33 (2) and 33 (3) of the Convention.