COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION  OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDERARTICLE 9 OF THE CONVENTION

Eighteenth and nineteenth periodic reports of States parties due in 2006

Addendum

Islamic republic of iRAN***

[1 October 2008]

CONTENTS

Paragraphs Page

I.GENERALITIES 1 - 33

II.THE STATUS OF THE CONVENTION IN THE LEGALSYSTEM OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN 4 - 133

III.INFORMATION ABOUT ARTICLES 2 TO 7 14 - 2106

Article 2 14 - 516

Article 3 52 - 5719

Article 4 5820

Article 5 59 - 17121

Article 6 172 - 17653

Article 7 177 - 21054

In the Name of Most High

Eighteenth and nineteenth periodic reports of the Islamic Republic of Iranon the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

I. Generalities

1.Iran is a dwelling place of various ethnicities with a variety of cultures. Apart from maintaining the basic components of their identity, these ethnicities have also formed a unique national identity and given unity and solidarity to the stretches of the Iranian lands. Convergence and coexistence of the ethnicities residing in this land is the fundamental advantage and characteristic of Iran in the region.

2.Based on Islamic teachings, the human beings are equal to each other before God in terms of nature and essence, enjoyment of talents and facilities, the possibility to acquire values, being forerunners in values and retribution of their deeds irrespective of their races, color and ethic or national origins. The life-giving school of Islam rejects and condemns the racial frontiers and recognizes no ethnic or racial discrimination. In this view, ethnicity, race etc don’t eventuate in superiority or betterment. Consequently, discriminatory approach has no effect on the laws, regulations or the current policymakings of the country and nowhere in the rules (including the Constitution or the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran), can anybody find an example of treating different groups of people in the society based on their racial, ethnic or language differences.

3.The Iranian society, under the guidance of religious beliefs, is one of the successful examples of brotherly and friendly coexistence among different ethnic groups. Promotion and consolidation of this situation are the foremost principles that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has paid attention to and many activities have been undertaken in order for it to be materialized.

II.The status of the Convention in the legalsystem of the Islamic Republic of Iran

4.In line with the continuation of cooperation and international efforts in order to more effectively combat racial discrimination and racism and implement the recommendations by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in examining the previous report of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the amendment to article 8 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was ratified by the Majlis (parliament) of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

5.Consequently, on 7 November 2005 the letter accepting the afore-mentioned amendment by the Islamic Republic of Iran was submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. An announcement was made by the Secretary-General with regard to the acceptance by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

6.Article 9 of the civil law stipulates that the provisions of treaties which is held based on constitution between Iran and other States are as law.

Population

7.Based on the latest census taken, the demographical division and variety of Iranian peoples are as follows:

Table 1

Name of the province	Ethnical variety
West Azerbaijan	Azeri - Kurdish
East Azerbaijan	Azeri
Ardabil	Azeri
Sistan and Baluchetsan	Baluch
Golestan	Turkman
North khorasan	Kurdish - Turkman
Khuzestan	Arab - Lor
Chehar Mahal and Bakhtiyari	Lor
Kohkiloye and Boyer Ahmad	Lor
Lorestan	Lor
Elam	Lor & Kurdish
Kermanshah	Kurdish
Kurdistan	Kurdish & Azari
Zanjan	Azeri

8.It has to be explained that ethnical centralization in the provinces above does not mean that there is no presence by other ethnic groups or Farsi-speaking people. Actually, the table is focused on the points of ethnical accumulation.

9.The population of the tribes in Iran, with the net growth rate of about 1.13 per cent, has been estimated to be 1395283 living in form of 213911 families by the end of 2004 based on the two tribal censuses taken in the years 1998 and 1987.

10.Iran is still welcoming a great population of the refugees. In recent years, the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan has not been favourable or encouraging for the refugees to return to their countries. Based on the identification plan conducted in 2002, 2563826 refugees have been identified inside Iran, 2355427 of whom are Afghans, 202877 are Iraqis and 5522 are nationals from other countries.

Table 2

Statistics and the latest condition of foreign nationals and refugees in Iran

Major Indicators	Unit	Base Year 1999	The years of the third development plan	The average annual growth
1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
1	Number of the displaced and refugees residing in Iran	Thousand people	2 000	1 820	1 640	1 360	1 280	1 100	11.3
2	Residing population in guest cities	Thousand people	90	95	100	105	110	120	5.9
	Ratio to the total population of refugees	Percent	4.5	5.2	6	7.2	8.6	11	19.6
3	Number of city counties	Counties	283	287	291	295	299	303	1.4
4	Number of districts	Districts	742	752	763	773	784	795	1.4
5	Expert ratio to the total personnel working in the Interior Ministry	Person	4 800	4 190	4 580	4 970	60.53	5 750	8.6
Percent	27	29.9	33.7	45.5	38.2	41	8.7

11.Despite the lack of facilities and resources and although Iran receives insufficient international help, the Government of Iran is taking the needed measures to provide the refugees with necessities and standards of a proper lifestyle until they will voluntarily and appropriately return to their countries. Some of these measures will be explained in other parts of this report.

12.Foreign nationals enjoy all human rights within the framework of the existing laws in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In past years and due to the presence of thousands of Afghan and Iraqi nationals in Iran, legal standards, bylaws, and various directives have been approved, and various plans and programmes have been carried out in order to organize the presence of foreign nationals and, if possible, repatriate them to their respective countries.

13.The repatriation of the foreign refugees is conducted through cooperation with the UNHCR efforts made and facilities provided by the Government and self-motivated return taking advantage of the governmental facilities. In both involuntary and voluntary repatriations, facilities including the issuance of exit documents, facilitation of the process of legal cases pertaining to the common properties and also the exit of savings at any Rial amount are granted by the Government. Besides, in the supported repatriation, the costs of transporting people and their properties to the borders and from there to the centre of the provinces are borne by UNHCR. The voluntary and supported repatriation of Afghans is undertaken under the tripartite agreement for return (between the Governments of Iran and Afghanistan and UNHCR) and under bilateral agreement (between Iran and UNHCR) for Iraqis.

III. Information about articles 2 to 7

Article 2

14.The thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth reports by the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination have described the principle of non-discrimination, general principles relevant to supporting the rights of ethnic groups as well as the detailed record of efforts made in order to remove discrimination. In the present report, some new developments in the field of lawmaking, and macro plans in this area are described.

15.On 22 September 2004, High Cultural Revolution Council approved the “charter of women’s rights and responsibilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran” aiming to systemically explicate the rights and responsibilities of women in the fields of individual, social and family rights.

16.Paragraph 10 of the women’s charter emphasizes the “Iranian women’s freedom in using ethnic dresses and dialects and practicing local customs and traditions provided that they don’t contradict good manners”.

17.Paragraph 121 of the charter emphasizes the “right of those women who have sought refuge in Iran to have security, good health and the chance to return to their countries”.

18.In the Directive No. 55/23 182/18871 issued on 6 January 2003 to all the judges in Iran “the Head of Iran’s Judiciary ordered:

Bearing in mind principles 12 to 14 of the constitution and the fact that all are equal before law and that everybody enjoys equal rights and has no advantage over another, it is essential that no discrimination or difference be considered among the parties of the legal cases and both parties should be treated equally

Judicial officials and officers should not only avoid actions which might prevent them from properly doing their duties, but also refrain from using sarcastic or offensive words or phrases or anything that might result in offending the feelings and emotions of the listeners in the process of investigations or conversations

When there is difference of religion between spouses or when different faiths are taken up with courts of law, religious or cult inclinations must not be ridiculed

The judicial unit stationed in any region of the country can herald unity and practice Islamic justice and prevent pessimism and outbreak of possible unrests and familiarize the residents of that region and assure them of the existence of impartial and knowledgeable judges irrespective of their ethnical, cultural and opinion differences by making just and neutral judgments and putting prejudices into oblivion in order to materialize the rights of the victims

19.In the law of the Fourth Development Plan in 2004, it has been mentioned that the Government is obliged to amend rules and regulations in order to adapt the national rules and regulations to the international and consulate standards and agreements with regards to labour changes in the world and elimination of discrimination in all social areas specially in the areas of occupation and employment.

20.Moreover, based on the above-mentioned plan, the judiciary is obliged to have the respective authorities ratify different bills including the following:

(a)The quick, precise, readily available, cheap, fair and decisive establishment of a judicial system which can be legally envisaged;

(b)Establishing and guaranteeing the foundations of private and spiritual ownership rights in the judicial realm;

(c)Removing any kind of ethnical and group discrimination in the legal and judicial realm.

21.The bill of citizenry rights has been passed by the parliament. In this law some cases about discrimination have been paid attention to. These cases are as follows:

(a)Every person needs to enjoy equal rights so that his/her personal rights and freedoms irrespective of his ethnic origin and decadence or other factors of discrimination such as race, color, sex, etc are practiced and identified. Any exemption or favoritism that endangers this right will lead to discrimination;

(b)Affirmative actions in favour of special groups to redress the past inequalities are not considered to be discrimination;

(c)Nobody can:

Propagate, spread or publish an opinion, icon or sign among the public which is indicative of discrimination;

Incorporate into a legal action a condition which entails discrimination;

Prevent others from having access to public services or give all such services to himself because of discrimination;

Discriminate against others on the grounds of employment or occupation;

(d)Cases of discrimination, exemption, exception or favoritism must be justifiable and based on enjoyment of required competence or qualifications for a job or based on humanitarian or educational considerations by non-profit institutes which are given exclusively for the welfare of a certain group.

22.In order to implement these rights and in order for all people to have access to social justice and to remove discrimination, a mechanism has been envisaged based on which a committee for elimination of discrimination is formed. This committee is comprised of representatives from the three branches, minority groups and women. In case the Government neglects the implementation of its recommendations, this committee has a legal personality and has the right to go to court and the court makes judgments in this regard. Moreover, the Government can ask its institutions and bodies to propose a plan for the removal of inequality within designated deadlines.

23.The order by the supreme leader of Iran with regard to the formation of headquarters for combating economic and financial corruption and the preparation of a plan for combating corruption of 2 April 2001 stipulates the following:

“No discrimination must be seen in combating corruption. Nobody, no institutionand no organization is an exception in this regard. No person or organization can, by attributing his or its action to me or other authorities of the country consider himself or itself exempt from the law. Corruption should be confronted equally anywhere and in any form.”

24.The educational deputy of Iran’s Judiciary utilizes different methods and ways to promote the awareness and training of people in different legal fields. In recent years, legal clinics have been established which answer people’s legal questions via telephone. In addition, in the website of the educational deputy of Iran’s Judiciary users are given the opportunity to select 350 types of petitions and fill them without having to use the consultation of lawyers. So far, more than 150 types of general legal brochures have been given to people and some others will soon be published.

Efforts made and measures taken in deprived regions with ethnic andtribal groups

25.Invoking article 95 of the Fourth Plan of Economic, Social and Cultural Development of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the document for reduction of poverty was ratified in 14 articles in order to make the subsidies target-oriented. This document maintains that:

It is a public right for everybody in the society to have access to the minimum basic needs and providing this right is an obligation of the Government.

The poor should be viewed as people who must participate in the process of their poverty alleviation.

The supportive measures should be prioritized according to the level of poverty from the most severe to the least one.

Job skills should be taught to the poor in order to enhance their work capabilities; so that they may later take part in the process of economic and sustainable activities and businesses.

Preventing poverty from getting formed and improving the living conditions of the deprived come first. Programmes proposed in this regard should first remove the factors and grounds contributing to poverty and then involve financial, cultural and educational assistance that will lead to the empowerment of the people of the society.

Supportive coverage granted to those poor people who are capable of working and being active are limited in time and during this time they are given opportunities to receive free training to acquire occupational skills. The ideal and qualitative goals of this document have been examined in its third and fourth articles. On this basis, the establishment of social justice, reduction of social and economic inequality, reduction of poverty and limitations of empowering the poor and making the subsidies target‑oriented have been considered as the ideal goals of the document for the reduction of poverty.

26.On the other hand, the qualitative goals of this document are as follows:

(a)Improvement of food conditions;

(b)Improvement of the level of access to the required hygienic, medical and rehabilitation services;

(c)Promotion of the level of life skills based on knowledge;

(d)Promotion of the housing situation and shelter;

(e)Returning the vulnerable groups to the areas of social activity;

(f)Reduction of the damages caused by natural, political and social dangers.

27.Imam Khomeini Relief Committee has concentrated most of its social supports and poverty-alleviation services on various groups of the society specially the elderly, the debilitated and unsupervised children and women, the disabled, patients, youth and teenagers. According to statistical indices, 63.4 per cent of the population supported by Imam Khomeini Relief Committee is women and 36.6 per cent are men.

Table 3

The population of Iran and the population under the coverof Imam Khomeini Relief Committee in 2004

Name of the province	Population of Iran in 2004 according to the estimates of Iran’s centre of statistics	Families and the number of people under the coverof Imam Khomeini Relief Committee In 2004
Number of people	Percentage distribution	Number of people	Percentage distribution	The percentage of the population under the support relative to the total population of the province
East Azerbaijan	3482672	5.2	140854	3.5	4.0
West Azerbaijan	2896657	4.3	140458	3.5	4.8
Elam	538877	0.8	104880	2.6	19.5
Kermanshah	1921284	2.8	141721	3.5	7.4
Khuzestan	4277998	6.3	286395	7.1	6.7
Chehar Mahal and Bakhtiyari	832945	1.2	76962	1.9	9.2
Zanjan	963434	1.4	44111	1.1	4.6
Sistan & Baluchestan	2219393	3.3	291630	7.2	13.1
Kurdistan	1546256	2.3	124710	3.1	8.1
Kohkiloye and BoyerAhmad	674113	1.0	101300	2.5	15.0
Lorestan	1739644	2.6	188298	4.7	10.8
Ardabil	1247202	1.9	88514	2.2	7.1
Golestan	2389195	3.5	95034	2.4	4.0

28.According to the plan of respective bylaws, regions whose development indices are below the national average are identified as less developed regions. Based on this, the provinces of Ardabil, East Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Elam, Lorestan, Kohkiloye & Boyer Ahmad, Sistan & Baluchetan, Bushehr, and South Khorasan as well as counties of the six provinces of Khuzestan, Chehar Mahal & Bakhtiyari, Fars, Isfahan, Hormozgan, and Kerman are considered to be the less developed regions of Iran.

29.Until 2002, measures were taken in order to remove deprivation more mostly based on increasing the level of social welfare by raising the social indices. However, after the emergence of the regional development and balance plan and ratification of provision 6 of the budget law for the year 2002 followed by the obligation of the Government to make up for the underdevelopment of the provinces and regions whose development indices are below the average indices of the country (ratified on 14 April 2002), a fundamental change occurred in Iran’s planning and budgeting system as well as in confronting the question of deprivation which is actually a new approach towards topics like regional preparation and balance. Therefore, the developmental approaches in deprived regions underwent changes as of this year: approaches

focused on alleviation of deprivation were changed into ones focused on dynamic development with the emphasis on developmental infrastructures. It has been envisaged in this new approach that as a national programme and in order to create balance between developed and less‑developed regions, a special credit would be established in a centralized way to be allocated to projects and plans which are really of the developmental, preparatory and regional nature.

30.As the result of the implementation of the regional development and balance plan, in the period of 2002-2005, altogether a credit worth 5170.8 billion Rials has been distributed among the 27 provinces of Iran: In the years 2002, 2003, 2004 respectively 900, 900 and 950 billion Rials and in the year 2005 it increased to 2420.8 billion Rials which shows a 255 percent growth compared to the previous year. A noteworthy point is that a remarkable portion of this credit has been allocated to the provinces with ethnic groups. Table number 4 shows the distribution of the above-mentioned credit to provinces with ethnic groups. Kohkiloye & Boyer Ahmad and Sistan & Baluchetan with a share above 8 per cent have respectively secured most of the credit. Kurdistan, Kermanshah and Lorestan each with a share more than 7 per cent come next. As it can be seen, all the provinces which have received most of the credit are the one with most of the ethnic groups in Iran. It has to be added that the two categories of “rural electricity” and “undividable” are seen in the table which altogether receive about 3 per cent of all the credit.

Table 4

Distribution of the allocated credits of regional developmentand balance during the years 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005

Amounts are according to million Rials	2002	2003	2004	2005 (ratified)	Period of 2002-2004	Share in the period%
The whole country	900000	900000	950000	2420800	5170800	100
Sistan & Baluchestan	78000	73000	80000	200000	431000	8.34
Kohkiloye & Boyer Ahmad	73000	74000	76500	199300	422800	8.18
Kurdistan	76000	81500	65000	172000	394500	7.36
Kermanshah	78000	81500	61100	161000	381600	7.38
Lorestan	77000	72000	64000	165000	378000	7.31
Elam	73000	68000	61000	140000	342000	6.61
Ardabil	65000	82500	51500	111000	310000	6
West Azerbaijan	48000	43500	50000	142000	283500	5.48
Khuzestan	17000	12500	96000	142000	267500	5.17
Chehar Mahal & Bakhtiyari	41000	35000	33500	63500	173000	3.35
Undividable	60000	7500	55000	-	122500	2.37
Golestan	10000	10000	11500	41000	72500	1.40
East Azerbaijan	4000	14000	5000	40000	63000	1.22
Zanjan	-	7000	3500	15000	25500	0.49
Rural electricity	-	-	-	20000	20000	0.39

31.Since one of the prerequisites for development is the enjoyment of suitable infrastructures, in line with distribution of credits for the regional development and balance plan, more than 50 per cent of all the credit have been allocated to infrastructural chapters such as “road and transportation” and “industry and mine” in order to improve and develop the infrastructural facilities in the deprived regions with or without ethnic groups.

32.In strategic policies which have emerged in the third plan of development for the prosperity and progress of villages, there are two basic and important points for removing the existing shortages:

Organizing the progress of villages, considering the role and performance of rural economies, through structural changes in the production system in order to appropriately operate the existing resources and productive factors and use proper technology to support the formation of institutions supplying the micro credits for presenting villagers with facilities and equipping the new resources by new methods.

33.On this basis and in order to precipitate the development and progress and to pay special attention to improving the livelihood of villagers, the Government has been changed with the duty to do the following:

Article 137 of the Third Development Plan, paragraph (c)

The Government is obliged to annually envisage special credits in the budget bills so that after the end of the third development plan, all the villages with more than 20 families will enjoy suitable roads, school, healthy drinking water, electricity and telephone.

Article 137, paragraph (d)

In order to create occupation in rural areas especially in the non-developed regions, a fund entitled “loans with no interest for the promotion of employment” will be established by the investments made by the Government and the people. The statute of this fund was prepared by the joint recommendation of the minister of Agricultural Jihad, the bureau for the affairs of the less developed regions of the country, the President, and the organization of planning and budgeting.

34.Considering the Fourth Economic, Social and Cultural Development Law of Islamic Republic of Iran (art. 19), in order to promote the rural and tribal development indices the Government is duty-bound to:

Article 19, paragraph (a)

Policymaking about planning, strategy and monitoring in the field of rural areas development should be under the supervision of the president.

Article 19, paragraph (b)

The aforementioned indicators, compared to the final figures of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s third economic, social, and cultural development programme show a 25 per cent increase (25 per cent). The voluntary settlement of nomadic communities, while improving their economic well-being, has covered 50 per cent of the country’s nomadic community.

Article, 19, paragraph (c)

All rural and nomadic community allocations, as earmarked in the plan, have been paid in full.

35.Thanks to the continued efforts of the office for less developed areas in the 2002-2005 period and the allocation of an additional 3658 billion Rials, around 8068 projects were carried out in less developed rural communities.

36.In addition to the above, national and provincial resources and organizations were mobilized to provide additional help to less-developed rural communities. As a result, today many such communities around the country have access to clean drinking water, roads, electricity, schools, and clinics (as mentioned in paragraph (c) of article 137 of the code pertaining to the Third Development Plan).

Table 5

Distribution of allocations for under developed rural communities,divided by province (2002-2005)

Row	Province	Allocations (in millions of Rials)	Total
2002	2003	2004	2005
1	Sistan & Baloochestan	72 780	109 700	86 030	99 700	368 210
2	Khozestan	55 440	48 600	49 450	63 000	216 490
3	Eastern Azerbayjan	39 895	45 400	48 450	63 100	196 845
4	Kurdistan	46 750	45 050	44 800	57 200	193 800
5	Western Azerbayjan	41 000	37 050	45 800	63 000	186 850
6	Lorestan	36 550	39 500	37 400	50 200	163 650
7	Kohkiloye & Boyr-Ahmad	22 500	31 800	31 740	30 100	116 140
8	Ardebil	25 000	23 800	23 300	32 500	104 600
9	Kermanshah	21 900	17 000	32 000	32 600	103 500
10	Golestan	19 000	19 200	20 370	31 200	89 770
11	Zanjan	14 500	21 000	14 200	21 050	70 750
12	Chahar-mahal & Bakhtiarie	11 400	12 500	12 200	20 300	56 400
13	Elam	10 400	8 850	9 600	10 200	39 050

Table 6

Distribution of projects carried out in deprived rural regions,as divided by province (2002-2005)

Row	Province	Number of projects	Total
2002	2003	2004	2005
1	Sistan & Baloochestan	233	310	89	99	721
2	Khozestan	85	60	67	81	293
3	Eastern Azerbayjan	147	106	101	98	452
4	Kurdistan	103	90	45	66	304
5	Western Azerbayjan	111	89	80	86	366
6	Lorestan	102	101	74	133	410
7	Kohkiloye & Boyr-Ahmad	49	38	47	45	179
8	Ardebil	98	63	64	76	301
9	Kermanshah	64	52	54	34	204
10	Golestan	53	55	57	73	238
11	Zanjan	37	31	21	25	114
12	Chahar-mahal & Bakhtiarie	31	26	26	28	111
13	Elam	12	7	10	12	41

37.Following the implementation of the above projects, the number of less developed rural communities fell from the original 12471 of 2002 to 9920 by the end of 2004. By the same token, under privileged rural population fell from 6281834 in 2002 to 4829552 by 2004. This shows that from 2002 to 2004, around 2551 rural communities with a combined population of 1452282 were provided with basic services.

Table 7

Former underprivileged rural communities that have been providedwith basic amenities. Divided by province, allocations, and number of projects (2002-2004)

Row	Province	Number of improved rural communities	Total
2002	2003	2004
1	Sistan & Baloochestan	49	70	48	166
2	Khozestan	47	68	46	162
3	Eastern Azerbayjan	70	99	69	238
4	Kurdistan	24	41	29	94
5	Western Azerbayjan	77	95	76	248
6	Lorestan	26	37	25	88
7	Kohkiloye & Boyr-Ahmad	11	16	11	38
8	Ardebil	26	37	26	89
9	Kermanshah	31	44	30	105
10	Golestan	20	29	19	69
11	Zanjan	21	28	21	69
12	Chahar-mahal & Bakhtiarie	5	7	5	18
13	Elam	6	9	6	20

Table 8

The population of former underprivileged rural communities that havebeen provided with basic amenities, divided by province, allocations, and number of projects (2002-2004)

Row	Province	Population of former underprivilegedrural communities	Total
2002	2003	2004
1	Sistan & Baloochestan	23014	32996	22582	78592
2	Khozestan	24153	34630	23701	82484
3	Eastern Azerbayjan	43538	61281	42711	147530
4	Kurdistan	15576	26609	18821	61006
5	Western Azerbayjan	32908	40375	32300	105583
6	Lorestan	13703	19647	13447	46797
7	Kohkiloye & Boyr-Ahmad	4194	6013	4116	14323
8	Ardebil	13763	19732	13505	47000
9	Kermanshah	17282	24777	16958	59016
10	Golestan	14105	20223	13110	47438
11	Zanjan	11073	14840	10865	36778
12	Chahar-mahal & Bakhtiarie	2948	4227	2893	10067
13	Elam	3110	4459	3052	10621

38.The office for less developed areas has also devised a plan to pay soft loans to rural dwellers. The scheme was later included in the Third Development Plan.

39.The rural employment fund has so far received 259 billion Rials from the office for deprived areas. The allocations have been deposited as Government grants, helping with the fund’s initial capital. For the time being the fund has been piloted in 550 rural communities. It has so far created 7500 agricultural, industrial, and service sector jobs.

Table 9

Distribution by province of the loans and facilities providedby the rural employment fund (2002-2004)

Row	Province	Facilities (in millions of Rials)	Total
2002	2003	2004
1	Sistan & Baloochestan	780	5220	4100	10100
2	Khozestan	780	8720	5800	15300
3	Eastern Azerbayjan	780	5220	4200	10200
4	Kurdistan	650	4350	2800	7800
5	Western Azerbayjan	780	6220	7570	14570
6	Lorestan	520	5980	6000	12500
7	Kohkiloye & Boyr-Ahmad	390	3110	1500	5000
8	Ardebil	390	4110	3000	7500
9	Kermanshah	650	7350	6280	14280
10	Golestan	390	4110	4600	9100
11	Zanjan	390	3110	1400	4900
12	Chahar-mahal & Bakhtiarie	390	2610	2200	5200
13	Elam	260	2470	1200	3930

Table 10

Provincial distribution of rural communities that have been servedby the rural employment fund (2002-2004)

Row	Province	Number of communities provided with facilities	Total
2002	2003	2004
1	Sistan & Baloochestan	6	6	10	22
2	Khozestan	6	13	15	34
3	Eastern Azerbaijan	6	6	9	21
4	Kurdistan	5	5	8	18
5	Western Azerbaijan	6	8	15	29
6	Lorestan	4	9	10	32
7	Kohkiloye & Boyr-Ahmad	3	4	5	12
8	Ardebil	3	6	10	19
9	Kermanshah	5	11	12	28
10	Golestan	3	6	9	18
11	Zanjan	3	4	4	11
12	Chahar-mahal & Bakhtiarie	3	3	4	10
13	Elam	2	4	4	10

Measures taken to improve the living standards of nomadic communities

40.Around 250 billion Rials were earmarked in 2005 and an additional 234 billion Rials was allocated in 2006 to help with the settlement of nomadic communities. The budget is especially cognizant of the need for social justice.

41.During cabinet provincial visits to Eastern Azerbaijan, Western Azerbaijan, Elam, Chahar Mahal Bakhteyari, South Khorasan, Khorasan-e Razavee, Khorasan-e Shomalee, and Sistan va Baloochestan, it first studied the various issues and problems of nomadic communities and later allocated 25.6 billion Rials in direct assistance and an additional 27 Billion Rials in banking facilities.

42.Many programmes have been implemented to increase the knowledge and awareness of women in nomadic communities. To this end the President’s advisor on women’s issues was approached to provide a billion Rial grant.

43.More than 20 articles out of the Third Development Plan deal with issues that pertain to Nomads. The following two points constitute the basic directions of the Government’s policy on nomads.

(a)From the beginning of the Third Plan, the Government will make every effort to help with the settlement of the country’s nomadic community. In this context, two- five-year plans will be drafted and later implemented to help raise the living standards of the community and provide them with jobs;

(b)Organization of migration and assistance with voluntary settlement of nomads.

44.The Government’s obligations have been divided into organizing the migration and the settlement of nomadic communities. This in itself has been subdivided into seven headings. Support and services for migrants, helping with settlements, replacing fossil fuels with alternatives, research, education, improved production and cooperatives.

45.For the Third Plan to be successful, as far as the settlement of nomadic communities is concerned, the following conditions have to be present:

The Plan has to be executed and later managed by the Nomadic high council and its affiliated agencies

Active and well-planned participation by all relevant organizations

Iran’s nomadic organization needs to fundamentally change so as to improve its standing and structure

Allocation of appropriate and sufficient funds for proposed programmes

Inclusion of a separate item on the “settlement of nomads”

Soft loans

Sharing in the experiences of other countries that have a nomadic migrating community

Increasing the availability of schools and maximum enrolment of school age children, as well as compulsory high school education

Assisting with the organization of local nomadic community leadership

46.In the Third Plan there is a chapter titled “multi-purpose regional development”. In it there is a plan for the comprehensive development of nomadic regions. The allocations in that Plan exclusively deal with nomadic human development, infrastructural services, and their improved economic and social standing. It is also worth mentioning that aside from the above Plan, other organizations have their own plans, allocations, budgets, etc. to help with improving the lives of nomadic communities.

47.Extensive logistical support has been provided to nomadic communities. In this context, access roads have been improved, nomadic co-ops established and supplied with goods. Nomadic family health services, and also veterinary services for herds owned by nomads have comprehensively covered.

Table 11

Developmental allocations out of “multi-purpose regional development”plan and the nomadic region’s comprehensive development plan for 1999 to 2004 (in millions of Rials)

Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Seasonal allocations   for multi purpose   operations	179 398	216 068	249 409	1 144 213	1 075 471	1 866 408
Allocations from the   plan for the   comprehensive   development of   nomadic regions	87 264	118 270	122 698	100 422	188 694	147 281

48.In the context of the Third Plan, Iran’s nomadic organization has been entrusted with two tasks. One would be to help with the voluntary settlement of nomadic communities and the other would be to give some organization to the migration of the country’s nomadic population. In keeping with the Plan, the Organization to date has helped with the voluntary settlement of more than 21000 nomadic families.

49.The most important activities of Iran’s nomadic organization (from 2000 to 2004) have been listed below:

Table 12

Project	Unit	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	Third Plan forecast
Potable water	Family	5 675	8 500	5 667	5 675	6 007	30 766 families
Nomadic access  roads	Family	12 173	10 000	16 355	15 043	11 377	64 531 families
Fossil fuel	Family	11 597	12 354	12 768	17 662	14 795	68 077 families
Employment opportunities	Family	4 269	6 000	5 202	4 760	37 731	23 962 families

50.The Nomadic co-op network - which covers the whole of the country’s nomadic population - is tasked with providing the community with basic commodities. The network is overseen and affiliated to Iran’s nomadic organization.

51.Table 13 deals with the various projects of Iran’s nomadic affairs organization, which have been paid by allocations earmarked for less-developed regions. The table has been divided by province and deals with the 2002-2005 period.

Table 13

Province	Project	Number of projects	Allocations (in millions of Rials)
Western Azerbaijan	Water & soil	15	4 490
Ardebil	Water & soil	1	450
Potable water	1	100
Chhar mahal va Bakhteyaree	Road construction	19	7 287
Khuzestan	Water & soil	1	150
Potable water	17	5 320
Pavement of roads	1	750
Bridge construction	1	1 200
Sistan va Baloochestan	Soil & water	82	7 950
Potable water	1	600
Road construction	2	450
Kohkiloye va Boyer Ahmad	Soil & water	3	750
Mine roads	2	250
Road construction	3	1 500
Golestan	Soil & water	1	50
Road construction	1	4 445
Lorestan	Soil & water	6	1 450
Potable water	3	1 400
Road construction	10	4 300
Busher	Road construction	2	1 500
Khorasan-e Razavee	Potable water	1	80
Road construction	2	203
Fars	Water & soil	42	6 940
Potable water	1	560
Paved roads	2	1 100
Animal health	1	50
Construction of bridges	1	200
Road construction	28	6 550
Kerman	Water & soil	4	970
Potable water	2	1 250
Road construction	4	1 600

Article 3

52.The official and practical policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, both at the regional and the international levels is to oppose all forms of discrimination and xenophobia. To help with the downfall of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, the Islamic Republic of Iran utilized many options, including the imposition of an oil embargo; Iran had signed up to the relevant international conventions, and actively participated in international efforts. Some of those efforts have been outlined in reports previously submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

53.The Islamic Republic of Iran firmly believes that by promoting talks and understanding between different cultures and civilizations we will be able to largely overcome the various manifestations of racial discrimination. That is why the idea of the dialogue among civilizations was tabled some years ago by the Islamic Republic of Iran and later welcomed by and mentioned in the Durban Declaration. As for respect for cultural diversity, the Islamic Republic of Iran some time ago floated a draft on cultural diversity and later submitted it to the United Nations General Assembly. For five consecutive years the resolution was presented to and later approved by the General Assembly. To promote respect for cultural diversity, the Islamic Republic of Iran is hoping to organize a series of international conferences on the subject, with the help of international organization.

54.With regard to the enhancement of respect for the cultural diversity, The Islamic Republic of Iran has initiated the draft resolution on “Human Rights and Cultural Diversity” since 1999, which was adopted by consensus at the General Assembly plenary sessions during the past six years. In this regard, the initiative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to hold a Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement on Human Rights and Cultural Diversity, held in Tehran, September 2007 and the Decision by the NAM Ministers to establish “the NAM Center for Human Rights and Cultural Diversity” was intended to present a unique opportunity for exchanges of ideas and views of the developing countries on the sensitive issues relating to human rights and cultural diversity and to establish a framework for promoting respect for cultural diversity and institutionalizing intercultural dialogue in the field of human rights.

55.Internationally Iran is very active in combating different forms of racial discrimination. The Islamic Republic of Iran has cosponsored numerous resolutions in the former Commission and the present Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. It also continues to strongly support new international measures designed to combat all forms of racial discrimination and xenophobia.

56.As was mentioned in the previous report, the Islamic Republic of Iran actively participated in the international conference to combat racism and racial discrimination. It also followed up on the recommendations of the conference and established the recommended organs. The Islamic Republic of Iran also actively participated in the various meetings of the Durban Working Group. Iran also supported efforts to back the efforts of the working group and strongly backed its activities.

57.To implement the decisions taken at Durban, the human rights directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has translated the national section of the programme of action and has asked relevant Iranian organs to observe and carry-out its decisions.

Article 4

58.In its previous report, the Islamic Republic of Iran explained the relevant laws that pertain to article 4.

Article5

Participation in political life

59.According to article 6 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the affairs of the State should be managed with the backing and support of the public. The article goes on to site examples such as presidential elections, parliamentary elections, local council elections, etc. The article also mentions referendums.

60.In accordance with the article, to date, 25 general elections have been organized. The citizens are free to take part in the elections. Elections are conducted in a direct fashion and through secret ballots. The average level of participation by members of the public corresponds to the highest international standards. Figures pertaining to the last three elections can serve as a good indicator of public participation in the elections - keeping in mind that in certain provinces there is a concentration of one ethnic group or the other.

61.According to articles 35 and 36 of the presidential election code, as well as articles 27 and 28 of the Islamic consultative assembly’s election code describe the requirements of elected officials and the citizens electing them - no direct or indirect condition can be allowed that lead to racial and ethnic discrimination. With that in mind all Iranian citizens can potentially stand for the office of the president, or parliamentary or local council elections. By the same token, all citizens are free to choose their desired representative or candidate, without any discrimination.

62.Moreover, article 100 of the Constitution states that, “in order to expedite social and economic development, public health, cultural, and educational programmes and facilitate other affairs relating to public welfare with the cooperation of the people according to local needs, the administration of each village, division, city, district, and province will be supervised by a council to be named the Village, Division, City, District, or Provincial Council. Members of each of these councils will be elected by the people of the locality in question ....”.

63.The elections for the city and village councils began in 1998 and three rounds of elections have been held for these local administrations. As a result of these elections, the direct management of the affairs of the villages, divisions, cities, districts and provinces has been passed to the people.

64.Statistics relating to the participation in the provinces of Iran, including those with larger ethnic groups, in the first phase and second phases of the presidential election (2005) and the seventh parliamentary election clearly show the high turnout of ethnic groups in the political life of the country.

Table 14

Percentage of the voter turnout at parliamentaryand presidential elections

Parliamentary election	Presidential election	Province
Second	First
55.43	49	54.15	Ardabil
61	66.49	72.33	Bushehr
75.35	64.34	64.85	Charmahal va Bakhtiary
45.27	46.18	51.25	East Azarbayjan
41.63	59.6	58.26	Esfehan
57.67	58.28	61.36	Fars
50.54	58.57	58.40	Gylan
65.98	60.52	65.81	Gholestan
51.08	57.52	67.34	Hamedan
61.76	57.52	78.30	Hormozgan
73.05	66.76	80.43	Elam
64.20	77.86	77.98	Kerman
57.59	55.67	63.55	North Khorasan
57.59	71.88	78.59	South Khorasan
57.59	63.99	70.99	Khorasan Razavi
50.26	51.20	55.38	Kermanshah
55.62	51.25	55.33	Khuzestan
89.81	76.11	78.48	Kohkoluyeh and Booyer Ahmad
32.26	24.96	37.37	Kurdistan
62.36	60.41	67.17	Lorestan
42.79	67.49	62.09	Markazi
55.98	45.26	65.19	Mazandaran
54.89	67.04	69.23	Qazvin
52.24	77.27	77.01	Qom
56.40	74.22	73.48	Semnan
75.38	63.76	74.44	Sistan & Baluchistan
36.78	65.20	63.68	Tehran
42.35	37.17	44.02	West Azerbaijan
49.17	75.49	76.02	Yazd
59.86	61.03	65.25	Zanjan

Political groups

65.Political parties, societies, political and trade associations, and Islamic or recognized minority religious associations may be freely established, provided that no violation is involved of the principles of independence, freedom, national unity, Islamic standards, and the foundations of the Islamic Republic. No person may be prevented from joining, or compelled to join one of the above.

66.According to article 26 of the Constitution and in view of other criteria, the Law on the activities of political parties, societies, trade associations, and Islamic or recognized minority and recognized minority religious associations was approved and is currently in force. Article 2 of this Law states that the founders of these groups are regarded as real persons that shall have the following qualifications:

(a)No record with respect to cases stated in article 7 of the law on political parties;

(b)Minimum age of 25 years;

(c)Faithful to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, citizen of Iran, no criminal record and deprivation of social rights.

As is clearly apparent, there is no limitation, prohibition, racial or ethnic discrimination in respect of political parties associations and groups.

67.In view of the aforesaid laws and regulations, the figures relating to the issuance of permits for these groups are as follows:

Table 15

Title	Number nationwide
Political parties and associations	222
Trade unions and professional associations	250
Religious minority associations	54

68.For the purpose of strengthening and facilitating political and non-political collective activities in the country, the following legislations and special protective measures and incentives have been approved and are presently in force:

Issuance of permits for the use of satellite receivers

Tax exemptions

Payment of annual subsidies

Payment of subsidies to parties and associations

69.For the purpose of promoting collective activities at grass-root levels, an annual budget is earmarked every year and paid directly to religious minority associations and NGOs with permits. The instructions manual for the payment of these subsidies are organized in a way that groups would be able to benefit from these subsidies without any fear of their political positions and free from any discrimination.

Table 16

Earmarked budget for political and religious minority associations

Title	2002	2003	2004	2005
Political parties and associations	5 623 275 000	9 883 710 000	9 883 710 000	10 332 000 000
Religious minority associations	-	9 400 000 000	10 000 000	17 500 000

Freedom of expression and opinion

70.As was explained in the previous report of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the activities of the ethnic groups in Iran in respect of freedom of expression, are facilitated and promoted through exchange of information and educational activities by publication of books, magazines and periodicals and holding of book exhibitions. The following are some of the activities in this regard over the past three years.

71.Over the past three years, 828 book titles have been published on ethnic groups of Iran, of which 428 are on Kurds, 263 on Azeri, 27 on Baluchis, and 110 on Arabs. Also, over the past four years 91 book titles have been published on Armenians, 123 on Zoroastrians and Jews.

72.Holding of book exhibitions in regions of the country with large Kurdish, Baluchi, Azeri, and Lori populations were among other activities over the past two years. Holding of ten book exhibitions for various ethnic communities in recent years was for the purpose of drawing the attention of young people, men and women to the importance of book reading and promoting the culture of buying books. This was a great success in promoting the culture of book reading in less developed regions of the country. These book exhibitions were organized in the following regions of the country:

73.Four provincial book exhibitions in West and East Azerbaijan, offering more than 200,000 titles of books, three provincial book exhibitions in Sistan & Baluchistan, two book exhibitions in Kurdistan and Kermanshah and one in Elam.

74.It is noteworthy that the annual international book exhibition in Tehran encourages participation by publishers from various ethnic communities in Iran.

75.Presently, more than 71 publications have received permits to publish magazines, newspapers and periodicals in Azeri, Lori, and Kurdish languages. 34 publications in Azeri‑language regions and 37 in areas of the country with large Kurdish and Lori population. They are free within the limits of the Constitution to express their views and present their social, cultural; and political demands. For example, the publications “Rayeh Mellat”, “Dashoora” in Khuzestan, “Abider” and Sirvan in Kurdeistan, and Mahbad and Navid Azerbaijan in Azerbaijan Province and the weekly journal Shams Tabriz in East Azerbaijan are among the periodicals that receive support and subsidies.

76.At present, 128 student journals in languages other than Farsi, mainly in Azeri and Kurdish, are published with the support of the management of the university.

Right of assembly and peaceful associations

77.According to article 26 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in addition to the political parties and associations relating to religious minorities, the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can engage in their related activities by receiving permits from the relevant authorities.

78.The permits for more than 350 NGOs have been issued for ethnic groups. These organizations are active in various social, cultural and political arenas and in providing services. Since it is not possible to mention all the names, a few are mentioned here as examples: Cultural Association of Women of Sistan & Baluchistan Province, Women Association of Boroojerd, Women Society of Lorestnafor Protection of Environment, Research Group for Green Plan of Khorram Abad.

79.To help alleviate poverty of women heads of household, Office of Women and Family Affairs has begun cooperative relations with NGO’s. This is for the purpose of promoting the right to assemble and organize peaceful associations and to enhance sense of fellowship and humanitarian and charitable activities. The following table shows the performance of partner NGO’s that have worked with this office.

Table 17

Performance of partner NGOs in cooperation withthe Office of Women and Family Affairs in 2004

Row	Name of Province	Number of partner organizations	Number of cases assigned to partner organizations
1	East Azerbaijan	30	2 441
2	West Azerbaijan	16	1 354
3	Ardebil	6	730
4	Elam	9	1 466
5	Chahar Mahal & Bakhtiari	10	746
6	Khuzestan	37	9 794
7	Zanjan	6	620
8	Sistan & Baluchistan	6	872
9	Kermanshah	14	2 156
10	Kohkilooyeh & Booyer Ahmad	4	821
11	Kurdistan	14	1 323
12	Golestan	6	542
13	Lorestan	14	3 100

The right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of the work and to protection against unemployment, to receive equal payment for equal work and fair and reasonable bonuses

80.In respect of issues relating to work conditions, right to choose a decent work and to receive equal payment for equal work as well as unemployment earnings are among the most important matters in the Constitution and the labour act of the country.

81.The concluding observations made by the monitoring body of the ILO ConventionNo. 111 (1958) concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation regarding the implementation of this Convention in Iran show that there are no cases of discrimination relating to work and the rights of work on the basis of ethnicity or national origin.

82.According to article 28 of the Constitution every person is entitled to choose the employment he/she wishes, so long as it is not contrary to Islam or the public interest or the rights of others. The Government is bound, with due regard for the needs of society for a variety of employment for all persons, to create the possibility of employment, and equal opportunities.

83.Article 6 of the Labour act of the Islamic Republic of Iran that draws its content from the Constitution states that all members of the society enjoy equality in benefiting from economic, social and cultural rights.

84.Protection against unemployment is presently provided through the implementation of the Unemployment Insurance Law of 1980 and its executive regulations. The scope of this law is the same as the Labour act and provides benefits to the unemployed persons whose employments are terminated.

85.The concluding part of article 38 of the Labour act stipulates that any discrimination in wage determination on the basis of age, gender, race, ethnic origin and political and religious convictions shall be prohibited. According to article 174 offenders shall face defined punishment.

86.In view of article 38 of the Labour Code (the concluding part) and bearing in mind that the term “wages” in this law includes wages, benefits, bonuses and all payments to workers and considering that the authorities for settlement of disputes (Chap. 9 of the Labour act) and others apply the same interpretation for this article then discrimination in payment of bonuses to workers on the basis of any arrangement or rules is forbidden and any violation thereof is in accordance with article 174 of the Labour act, a punishable offence in addition to the payment of the losses to the worker.

87.The employment rate of women in the private sector is totally different and very complex, and even differs from one province to another province. The employment situation in the private sector is improving in light of the increase in independent employment and crafts associations, women NGO’s and providing incentives and support to these organizations.

88.The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has provided vocational training to more than one million new entrants to the employment market by allocating about 5000 million Rials. More than 30 percent of the training centres belong to women.

89.The Fund for Protection of Employment Opportunities, affiliated to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, has also allocated a huge budget for development of entrepreneurial skillsfor men, women, especially women heads of households. An annual individual loan of 50 million Rials with a low interest rate (4 per cent finance charges) to every applicant has supported at least 100,000 applicants in starting self-employment and small businesses. There are presently many educational and training programmes for women entrepreneurs at universities and other institutions.

90.Imam Khomeini Relief Committee has put in place a number of employment-creation projects and provided loans to qualified persons in the less developed areas of the country. The statistics relating to years 2002-2004 are as follows:

Table 18

Self sufficiency activities (job creation) Imam Khomeini Relief Committee

Name of Province	2004	2003	2001
East Azerbaijan	1 527	1 108	1 260
West Azerbaijan	2 070	1 358	1 449
Elam	1 119	783	1 168
Kermanshah	2 263	865	1 520
Khuzestan	930	864	1 364
Chahar Mahal & Bakhtiari	942	764	1 041
Zanjan	881	595	853
Sistan va Baluchistan	1 544	1 173	1 244
Kurdistan	1 090	758	824
Kohkilooye va Booyer Ahmad	540	702	663
Lorestan	1 263	1 005	1 180
Qrdebil	1 456	1 102	794
Golestan	1 550	1 017	1 056

91.Article 1 of the Directive of the Council of Ministers concerning issuance of temporary work permits for foreign nationals who are eligible for temporary residence, stipulates that the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs shall issue work permits for those foreign nationals that are eligible for temporary residence as declared by the Ministry of Interior. This is pursuant to the provisions of article 122 of the Labour Code of 1990 and in accordance with the directive 56909/t21952.

Establishment of trade associations and membership

92.According to article 26 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran “political parties and societies, political, trade, Islamic associations and recognized religious minorities may be freely established, provided that no violation is involved of the principles of independence, freedom, national unity, Islamic standards, and the other basic principles of the Islamic Republic. No person may be prevented from joining, or compelled to join, one of the above”.

93.In compliance with article 26 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, article 131 of the Labour Code recognizes the right to establish syndicates for employers and workers. This right is so important that article 178 of the Labour Code states that:

Any person who resorts to coercion or threats to oblige another to join a workers’ or employers’ organization or to prevent him from joining such organizations, and anyone who prevents lawful organizations from being established or their statutory functions from being performed shall, with due regard to his situation and means and to the degree of the offence, be subject to a fine of between 20 and 100 times the minimum daily wage applicable on the date of judgment, or to a term of imprisonment ranging from 91 to 120 days, or to both these penalties.

Right to housing

94.Article 31 of the Constitution states that every Iranian individual and family is entitled to housing appropriate to their need. The Government has an obligation to provide this, giving priority, in the implementation of this article, to those whose need is the greatest, in particular the rural population and workers.

95.In view of the existing laws, there is no discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to proper housing on the basis of religion, gender national origin or income groups.

96.Providing housing for the people, especially for those segments of the population whose housing indices are below the national average have been on the top of the agenda of the Government’s housing policy. Providing special facilities for 328 cities of the country in which the average number of persons in each housing unit is more that the national average is among the measures taken by the Government. About 40 per cent of these cities belong to 13 provinces that have ethnic groups. According to the Directive of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Housing Cooperatives of government employees and teachers receive 25 to 80 per cent discount and the remaining sum is paid in instalments lasting three years. Over the years 1997-2004, close to 63 per cent of the residential units leased to the private sector were completed, 30 per cent of the governmental rental units and 40 per cent of the units belong to provinces with large ethnic population.

Right to have access to public health, medical care, social insuranceand social services

97.As a general principle, public health services are delivered to people on the basis of social justice, full equality of rights, regardless of race and ethnic origin, and even the neighbouring countries of Iran benefit from these services. The Center of Disease Control in the Ministry of Health focuses primarily on meeting the needs of the patients. Over the past five years, the provinces with large ethnic populations have done their utmost to fight communicable and non‑communicable diseases.

98.The participatory and support programmes are carried out in collaboration with the relevant agencies to improve the nutrition of children from the vulnerable segments of thepopulation, to bring about local self-sufficiency in the less developed areas to identify, and provide care, medical treatment and free food to children suffering from malnutrition. The following table shows the situation of the expansion of this programme in the targeted provinces:

Table 19

Name of the province	Number of peoplecoveredin 2002	Number of peoplecovered in 2005	Prevalence of stunting in 1998(percent)	Prevalence of anemia in 2004(percent)
West Azerbaijan	0	47873	9	3
East Azerbaijan	71518	305656	7	3
Ardabil	270069	815610	6	1
Zanjan	28890	117318	11	4
Kurdistan	73712	132747	11	6
Kermanshah	0	124478	9	5
Elam	142799	506333	11	3
Lorestan	203112	421673	10	4
Kohgilouyeh & Boyer Ahmad	9668	16803	14	6
Cheharmehl & Bakhtiyari	211769	285465	15	7
Sistan & Balouchestan	521019	1642106	21	16
Khouzestan	2343742	2894253	10	5
Golestan	1008259	1117386	4	3

99.The programme of the enrichment of wheat flour with micronutrients which aims to improve nutrition and prevent the prevalence of anemia in all strata of the society particularly among the vulnerable groups was designed and implemented in 2004. At present, Zanjan, Kermanshah, Cheharmahal & Bakhtiyari, Sistan & Baluchestan as well as Khuzestan provinces are fully covered by this programme.

100.The programme for the provision of iron supplements to high school girls which aims to reduce the prevalence of anemia and iron deficiency among high school girls has been implemented throughout the country since 2003. The following table demonstrates the profile of the implementation of the said programme in different provinces of the country.

Table 20

Province	Number of students coveredin 2003-2004	Number of students coveredin 2003-2004
West Azerbaijan	4827	63548
East Azerbaijan	1209	29611
Ardabil	1763	5583
Zanjan	1202	3862
Kordestan	13094	12668
Kermanshah	1185	8055
Elam	10094	17413
Lorestan	1200	5456
Kohgilouyeh & Bouyerahmad	9014	16588
Cheharmahal & Bakhtiyari	3300	11759
Sistan & Baluchestan	19760	23649
Khuzestan	99336	176338
Golestan	2125	43789

101.There are other programmes which are being implemented in the same areas such as the free milk programme which aims to promote the culture of milk consumption among primary school children, child growth monitoring programme, iron supplement programme as well as vitamins A&D supplement programme which have been integrated into the primary health-care services of the country.

102.All services offered in the public health-care and treatment networks as well as those offered by the private sector and charitable institutes of the country cover both genders and all sectors of the society irrespective of their nationality. All Iranians have equal access to public health-care services as well as medical and social security insurance.

103.Health-care services offered to all men, women and children in the rural health care and treatment centres cover 95 per cent of the rural population. These services are equally offered in the urban centres.

104.Opportunities for education at tertiary levels (under-and-post-graduate), membership in the boards of faculties of universities, sabbatical leaves and so forth are equally available to all irrespective of race, language and religion.

105.Employment opportunities in all medical fields are equally available to graduates of medical fields irrespective of race, nationality, language, religion and gender. The diversity of ethnicities living in different regions of the country has not caused any limitation in the distribution of manpower in any field (medical, nursing, etc.). The general policy of the Government is to recruit the required experts from among the local people to the extent possible.

106.In accordance with the provisions of the single article of the law granting permission for the recruitment of the required manpower in the areas of health care and medical treatment, apart from those substituting the retired staff, every year, 6000 new experts and technicians are recruited by the Ministry of Health 50 per cent of whom come from among the local graduates for each region of the country. Hence, over 50 per cent of the health-care staff and medical cadre of these regions are recruited from among the local ethnic groups.

107.Under the constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran, patients irrespective of their gender, age, race, religion and culture must be provided with timely, effective care and treatment services. Besides, patients are entitled to choose the centre where they wish to receive the required outpatient-inpatient-treatment services and also choose the members of the treatment team including the doctors and nurses.

108.Some of the additional measures taken by the Ministry of Health in the ethnic populated areas of the country beyond the national plans and programmes are as follows:

Organizing training workshops on child growth and nutrition for general physicians and pediatricians in the public and private sectors.

Organizing training workshops on enrichment of wheat flour with iron and folic acid for experts on nutrition and family health and also for departments overseeing food stuff and food stuff labs.

Implementing the iron supplement programme and nutrition training for secondary school girl students. Under this programme, secondary school girl students are given a free iron tablet per week to prevent anemia caused by iron deficiency.

Implementing the programme of enrichment of wheat flour with iron and folic acid in Sistan & Baluchestan province and making preparations for the implementation of the said programme in Golestan province.

Iodization of salt to reduce the instances of thyroid so much so that at present over 90% of households uses iodized salt.

Implementing the programme for the improvement of nutrition and growth of under‑five children: a joint programme for reduction of malnutrition in children and supporting children suffering from malnutrition in poor families has been implemented since 2001 in these provinces. The national child growth survey indicated that malnutrition of children in the provinces has drastically declined.

109.The following table demonstrates the extent of malnutrition among under-five children during 1998-2003:

Table 21

Province	Malnutrition by percentagein 1998	Malnutrition by percentagein 2003
Undersizedby %	Underweightby %	Undersizedby %	Underweightby %
West Azerbaijan	16	9	4	3
East Azerbaijan	16	7	5	3
Ardabil	20	6	3	1
Zanjan	21	11	5	4
Kordestan	21	11	4	6
Kermanshah	14	9	4	5
Elam	15	11	5	3
Lorestan	15	10	6	4
Kohgiluyeh & Buyerahmad	24	14	9	6
Cheharmahal & Bakhtiyari	14	15	7	7
Sistan & Baluchestan	36	21	16	16
Khuzestan	15	10	5	5
Golestan	14	3	3	4

110.Of the over two million foreign nationals residing in the Islamic Republic of Iran, over 50,000 are settled in camps where they are covered by independent health care medical treatment centres. Other immigrants and refugees are also covered by health care and have access to medical treatment centres. The following is part of the services provided to these people by the centres:

(a)Vaccination of 21,500 Iraqis, 5400 Pakistanis, 841,000 Afghans and 4000 nationals of other countries against measles and rubella;

(b)Out of 724 cases of measles seen in the country in 2004, 17 cases are Afghans and 15 cases Pakistanis that are under control and treatment;

(c)Vaccination against polio for under-fives on two occasions in 2005 covering respectively 155751 and 162858 non-Iranian children;

(d)Control of AFP (acute flaccid paralysis) cases. Out of 387 cases of AFP in the country in 2004, 13 cases are foreign nationals who have been provided with free diagnosis and diet therapy services;

(e)Control of tuberculosis cases. Out of 9975 new cases of tuberculosis seen in 2004, 1627 cases are foreign nationals who have been provided with free diagnosis and treatment services;

(f)Control of leprosy; out of 91 new cases of leprosy seen in the country in 2004, 11 cases are foreign nationals who have been provided with free diagnoses and treatment services;

(g)Control of Malaria; out of 13166 new cases of malaria seen in 2004, 4006 cases are Afghans, 1391 cases Pakistanis and 42 cases from other countries who have been provided with free diagnosis and treatment services;

(h)Animal bites; out of 118517 cases of animal bites in 2004, 871 cases are Afghans, 10 Iraqis, 8 Pakistanis and 159 cases are nationals of other countries who been provided with free treatment.

111.Iran’s Reference Laboratories Center has held theoretical and practical training courses for experts from neighboring countries such as Afghanistan, Jordan, as well as the Republic of South Africa. The centre stands ready for any such cooperation in the future.

Medical insurance

112.Under Article 29 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran “benefit from social security with respect to retirement, unemployment, old age, disability, absence of a guardian and benefits relating to being stranded, accidents, health services and medical care and treatment, provided through insurance or other means, is accepted as a universal right. The Government must provide the foregoing services and financial support for every individual citizens by drawing in accordance with the law on the national revenues and funds obtained through public contributions”.

113.Under Note one of article one of the Comprehensive Welfare and Social Security Law which has been drafted in line with the provisions of article 29 of the Constitution, access to social security facilities is the right of all citizens which must be ensured by the Government. Under the law, all citizens, employed or unemployed, living in cities or villages (except for those covered by Social Security Organization) are covered by medical treatment insurance and are entitled to health care and treatment services. Such services include treatment and prevention of diseases, diagnosis of physical and mental disorders and improvement of physical and mental health of citizens. These services are usually provided by the Medical Treatment Insurance Organization or the Social Security Organization.

114.In terms of social security insurance, people are divided into two groups based on the place of their residence, (cities or villages):

(a)In urban areas, employed people, workers or self-employed people, have access to social security insurance;

(b)In rural areas, employed villagers and nomads have access to social and medical treatment insurance. The Ministry of Welfare (in line with the provisions of article 19 of the Constitution) established in 2004 a comprehensive insurance fund for villagers and nomads to provide insurance cover for and reduce poverty among them based on their jobs, cultural characteristics, income level, etc. given the low rate of premium to be paid by the insured ad payment of the larger part of the premium by the Government, all villagers of the country are expected to be covered by social security insurance within a short period of time.

115.The following table demonstrates the expanding scope of the activities of the Social Security Organization as one of the subunits of the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security in providing social insurance services to people covered by this organization (wage earners, salaried employees, self-employed people and pensioners) in provinces where ethnic groups have been living (2002-2004).

116.It is to be noted that the percentage of the insured people varies in different provinces on the basis of the scale of the urban population, labour community, types of activity and predominant occupations as well as the active and employed population. Thus, the percentage of the insured in each province reflects the socio-economic and cultural profile of that province.

Table 22

Numbers and percentage of people covered by Social Security Organizationin provinces where ethnic communities are living (2002-2004)

Province	Number of the insured in 2000	% of the population	Number of the insuredin 2004	% of thepopulation	% of increase
East Azerbaijan	914516	27	1472607	42	15
West Azerbaijan	450608	17	513805	18	1
Ardabil	253799	21	329889	26	5
Elam	103158	19	210839	39	20
Cheharmahal & Bakhtiyari	200107	26	274037	33	7
Khuzestan	1748545	41	1902046	44	3
Zanjan	244068	26	317469	33	7
Sistan & Baluchestan	327072	17	436981	20	3
Kordestan	221040	15	294162	19	4
Kermanshah	387321	20	423774	22	2
Kohgiluyeh & Buyerahmad	130550	22	172807	26	4
Golestan	267476	18	381792	24	6
Lorestan	479459	29	443046	25	4

117.Medical Treatment Insurance Organization, another subunit of the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security was established to provide medical treatment insurance facilities for civil servants, poor people, villagers, nomads, etc.

118.This organization by receiving a treatment premium (a sum of money to be paid for each person per month on the basis of the services provided to the insured) pays the expenses of the treatment of the insured. Under article 4 of the Law on Medical Treatment Insurance “the Government is obliged to provide the necessary conditions for insurance coverage of all sectors of the society applying for medical treatment insurance”. The Law covers all members of the society without exception.

119.Under article 9 of the Medical Treatment Insurance Law, the part of the premium to be paid by the insured is determined in accordance with the socio-economic conditions of the country. The part of the premium to be paid by villagers is 40 per cent of the entire premium. On the other hand, under the Note of article 12 of the said Law, to support the villagers and extend the cover of medical treatment insurance in rural and nomadic communities, the Government is obliged to pay part of the expenses of the medical treatment insurance of villagers. Thus, the inhabitants of villages enjoy medical treatment insurance facilities as long as they reside in their villages.

120.As it is seen in the following table, the number of people covered by the Medical Treatment Insurance Organization in provinces where ethnic groups are living is higher than those of other provinces. Of course, the numbers had declined in 2000-2003 due to the rising trend of immigration from rural areas to towns and cities in provinces.

121.People who immigrate from rural areas to towns and cities are no longer covered by the provisions of articles 9 and 12 of the Medical Treatment Insurance Law and, hence, have to pay their own premiums. The following table compares the number of people covered by the Medical Treatment Insurance Organization in 2000-2003.

Table 23

Province	Number of the insured in 2000	% of the population	Number of the insured in 2003	% of the population	% of change
East Azerbaijan	1763150	52	1788981	52	0
West Azerbaijan	1586622	59	1485086	52	-7
Ardabil	761577	61	744828	61	-3
Isfahan	1545589	37	1503966	34	3
Elam	342274	65	345414	61	4
Greater Tehran	1678604	15	2768582	23	8
Chahrmahal & Bakhtiyari	588779	75	602519	75	1
Khuzestan	1695593	40	1811481	8	2
Zanjan	606406	66	631755	67	1
Sistan & Baluchestan	1213327	62	1280707	59	-3
Kordestan	823372	57	867442	57	0
Gom	177437	19	174258	17	2
Kermanshah	944889	50	970590	48	1
Kohgiluyeh & Buyerahmad	514330	86	530065	81	-5
Golestan	1028101	68	1101113	69	1
Lorestan	954289	58	962201	57	-1
Yazd	316966	39	386095	41	2

122.To ensure social security facilities for housewives and reduce their vulnerability the “Comprehensive Scheme for Social Security Insurance of House Wives” has been put in to force since 2002 by the Family and Women Affairs Division of the State Welfare Organization.

Table 24

Activities performed under Comprehensive Scheme forSocial Security Insurance of House Wives

Province	Cities & towns	2002	2003	2004
Ordinary women	Women seeking help	Total	Ordinary women	Women seeking help	Total	Ordinary women	Women seeking help	Total
East Azerbaiejan	Malkan Shabestar Bostanabad Bonab	-	-	-	183	252	432	1 144	353	1 497
West Azerbaiejan	Urumyeh Mahabad Miyandoab	500	84	584	500	84	584	982	171	1 153
Ardabil	Namin Meshginshar Khakhal	-	-	-	342	-	342	439	106	545
Elam	Elam	-	-	-	192	128	320	192	128	320
Chahr Mahal & Bakhtiyari	Shahrekord Brujen	-	-	-	230	56	286	302	63	365
Khuzestan	Abadan Masjedsoleiman Shoshdanyial Shushtar	-	-	-	670	55	725	1 111	370	1 481
Zanjan	Abhar Zanjan	-	-	-	344	23	367	442	71	513
Sistan & Baluchestan	Zabol Zahidan	-	-	-	176	83	259	292	235	527
Kordestan	Sanandaj Bijar Marivan	-	-	-	341	23	364	691	68	759
Kermanshah	Islamabadgharb Kangevar	-	-	-	243	47	290	585	250	790
Kohkiluyeh & Buyerahmad	Yasuj	291	105	396	285	111	396	279	115	394
Golestan	Gorgan Agh.ghala Bandartorkman	-	-	-	290	28	318	733	81	814
Lorestan	Khorramabad Borujerd Doroud	-	-	-	85	152	237	448	218	666

123.Atiyeh Insurance plan has provided insurance cover for children in areas of housing, employment, medical treatment and higher education. This scheme was put in place three years ago and is expected to meet the future needs of the children of parentless or single-parent families.

Atiyeh Insurance Plan

Table 25

Province	No.	Province	No.	Province	No.
East Azerbaijan	17	Khuzestan	17	Kordestan	8
West Azerbaijan	20	Zanjan	5	Golestan	10
Ardabil	9	Sistan & Baluchestan	40	Lorestan	9
Elam	1	Kermanshah	16
Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari	4	Kohkiluyeh & Buyerahmad	3

124.To support girls and women without shelters, centres have been set up to provide limited shelters for girls and women in critical conditions. Such centres also provide services for the solution of the problems of such girls and women through their social workers. Activities of the centres providing shelters for girls and women in critical conditions (temporary shelter) in 2004 are demonstrated in the following table:

Table 26

Province	No. of people admitted	No. of people rehabilitated
Women	Children	Total
East Azerbaijan	18	4	22	11
West Azerbaijan	20	44	64	-
Ardabil	20	2	22	3
Elam	75	16	91	-
Chahrmahal & Bakhtiyari	5	1	6	5
Khuzestan	14	6	20	13
Zanjan	14	5	19	9
Sistan & Baluchestan	32	-	32	28
Kordestan	6	7	13	6
Kermanshah	46	5	51	3
Kohkiluyeh & Buyerahmad	2	-	2	-
Golestan	15	3	18	15
Lorestan	60	10	70	-
Kordestan	6	7	13	6

125.Imam Khomeini Relief Committee has provided medical insurance cover for poor people in the said provinces as follows:

Table 27

Province	2004	2003	2002
No. of people	No. of people	No. of people
East Azerbaijan	138 153	138 017	137 956
West Azerbaijan	137 256	136 009	139 918
Elam	100 007	104 477	106 956
Kermanshah	135 966	139 182	147 670
Chahrmahal & Bakhtiyari	76 469	78 486	80 506
Khuzestan	275 735	281 387	302 180
Zanjan	43 467	43 947	42 529
Sistan & Baluchestan	258 877	255 958	283 264
Kordestan	122 882	121 631	120 573
Kohkiluyeh & Buyerahmad	118 854	106 405	110 057
Golestan	91 942	93 384	94 084
Lorestan	179 216	173 412	171 136
Ardabil	85 715	88 821	92 054

Right to education and vocational training

126.The 20-year Economic Outlook and National Development Plan of Islamic Republic of Iran had paid special attention to the promotion of education and specialized knowledge as the basis of the development of the country in all areas.

127.The Fourth Socio-economic and Cultural Development Plan inspired by the 20-year economic outlook has defined “education for all” as one of the priorities of the educational system of the country. Thus, the National Development plan has been formulated in view of the said goals and objectives with the direct and indirect participation of the public and private sectors.

128.Socio-economic and cultural development plans and their implementation mechanisms and also the Dakar Plan of Action have been used in the formulation of the National Development Plan of the country. The Plan has envisaged the goals and objectives of the education system in light of “education for all” including development of preschool education, expansion of education for child girls out of the school system and exceptional children specially in poor and less developed areas, increasing literacy rate in group ages between 10 to 40 as well as promoting the quality of education were paid attention to and as priorities of the education system were in to the consideration.

129.Ministry of Education as part of the policymaking and planning system of the country in the area of education is trying to eliminate the inequalities particularly in the ethnic regions by drafting the necessary rules and regulations and allocating the required budgets for alleviation of deprivation.

130.In view of the principles of the Constitution of Iran (art. 30) which ensures equal access for all to education, all the decisions of the High Cultural Revolution Council as the highest policymaking authority of the country in the area of education are based on the principles of equality and justice.

131.Under the existing laws, all students irrespective of their race, language, ethnicity and nationality are equally entitled to educational facilities in the country.

132.In the recent years the Ministry of Education has set up different programmes for promoting the education as well as inviting those who abandoned education in order for them to continue their education, making education available for the female students and promoting the educational quality and projecting privileges with the purpose to keep teachers staying in the deprived areas of their domicile as follows:

Implementation of the educational programmes for all

Using distance educational programme for educating students in deprived areas

Developing boarding schools and government pilot schools in deprived areas

Promoting education of nomads

Promoting public education in rural areas

Developing high schools and schools for seniors for educating all school age people

Promoting the preschool education courses

Holding one-month courses for the students studying in the first year of primary courses in the bilingual areas

133.According to article 52 of the Law of the Economic, Social and Cultural Development Plan, the Government shall take the following measures which are not necessarily needed to be passed by the parliament with the purpose to ensure equal access to education in less developed areas and promote knowledge and skills and productivity of the female students as well as develop qualitative and quantitative aspects of public education:

(a)Promoting required grounds for the implementation of the programme of the education for all;

(b)Making the education compulsory until the end of the junior secondary course in proportion to the available facilities in the areas which shall be gradually announced by the Ministry of Education as projected in the Fourth Development Plan;

(c)In addition to appropriation of usual public budget of the education sector, taking required measures to promote financial, managerial and executive independence of educational units (schools) for optimum use of non-governmental capital and capacities for promoting the capacities and productivity of the said units;

(d)Making required reforms in educational programmes and deepening and improving education in the fields of mathematics, sciences and English language;

(e)Promoting vocational skills and capacities of teachers based on the related norms of the knowledge, behaviour and function of teachers using international experiences given educational situation with in the country;

(f)Making required preparations and providing necessary facilities for strengthening educational buildings against earthquake and natural calamities and observing related standards especially with regard to the schools of female students as well as extending required support for benevolent school builders;

(g)Adopting required rules and regulations for providing, attracting and keeping necessary man power for less developed areas for issuance of employment permits, purchase of educational services and welfare facilities;

(h)Providing facilities for removing educational deprivations through development of boarding schools, central dormitories and rural centres for education, distance education and providing required nutrition, transportation and health facilities for students and meeting other expenditures relating to boarding schools and establishment and development of educational space in proportion to the number of genders of students and making and implementing required programmes for development of pre primary courses in bilingual areas.

134.In view of the paragraph 8 of article 52 of the Fourth Development Plan, rules of procedures of compulsory education up to the end of the secondary level were adopted by the Cabinet and communicated to the Ministry of Education, Interior Ministry and Management and Planning Organization for implementation. Therefore (according to the Adoption of the cabinet dated 1384, 5, 8) the Ministry of Education shall take every measure in order to put the above-mentioned rules of procedure into force by the end of the Fourth Development Plan throughout the country.

135.Also those people who could not finish their education shall be identified and provided with educational facilities. All provincial organizations of education as well as management and planning organizations shall examine reasons behind and obstacles to continuation of the education of the above-mentioned group of people and set the quantitative targets and relevant indicators as well as the required financial resources and submit them to the provincial planning and development council within the annual budget of the province for making required decision in this respect. To this end all provincial organizations of education shall provide the above-mentioned people with required facilities including boarding schools, non-stationed schools and distance education in proportion to the local and regional requirements using different relevant methods in this regard. Also according to paragraph 7 of the rules of procedure of the Ministry of Education, names of those parents or legal guardians who prevent their children to continue their education shall be submitted to legal authorities for possible punishments as stipulated by article 4 of the law to Support the Youth and Children dated 2002.

136.In line with the implementation of Government plans for promoting education, and in light of the UNESCO Agreement on Education for All, dated 1990, in Jamtin Thailand as well as the Final Document of the International Conference on Education for All in Dakar, Senegal (2000) and given the commitments of all countries for materialization of the targets stipulated in the above-mentioned document by 2015, the Center for Supervising and Planning of Education for All shall take required measures to reach the defined targets in this respect.

137.One of the basic strategies of the Ministry of Education for promotion of education at the primary level is to put emphasis on educating those girls who could not finish their education in deprived and desolated areas. This issue is clearly envisaged in the five year development plans. Therefore, in the educational periods of 2000-2001 and 2001-2002, with the participation of the Center for Women Participation of the Presidential Office, the plan for attracting the girls who shall receive compulsory education or continue their unfinished education was implemented in six deprived provinces ( Sistan and Baluchestan, West Azaerbaijan, Ardebil, Kurdistan, Khozestan and Hormozgan) that resulted in attraction of 6500 girls who have not been able to finish their education for the educational year of 2000-2001 and attraction of 3500 in educational year of 2001-2002. In educational year of 2003-2004 especial budget was appropriated for extending coverage of education while reiterating on the girls who have dropped out of school that was resulted in education of 32736 students.

138.With the purpose to create equal educational opportunities, remove deprivation in the less developed areas and promote educational level of children in rural areas with limited population, in which holding classes with high quality is not possible, establishment of boarding school at junior secondary and secondary levels was put in the agenda of the Ministry of Education, and the drive in this respect was expedited during recent years to extent that annually around 200 boarding schools have been established throughout the country for students of deprived rural and nomadic areas. Therefore, number of boarding schools was increased from 2111 in 2001-2001 to 2880 in 2003-2004. 428416 students are studying in these boarding schools out of whom 41 per cent are female (these figures are for the year 2003-2004).

139.One of the measures taken by the Government since post revolution era in favor of the deprived people is the establishment of model public schools. These types of schools were established since 1985 for poor students of less developed regions in middle and secondary levels and they were increased since 2001. To this end, every measure was also taken to increase quality of these schools. Total number of these schools increased by 951 in 2003-2004 as compared with 1996-2001 which stood at 608. Currently around 147677 students are studying in these schools.

140.Further attention to nomads and educational affairs of their children have always been of paramount importance in the eyes of the Ministry of Education. In this context using all legal, financial and human resources have led to remarkable promotion of the education of nomadic students. To this end, establishment of new nomadic schools, boarding schools and organization of mobile work force according to the migration of nomads and, the project for increasing quality of nomad’s education have been among the most important measures taken by the Ministry of Education.

141.In the educational year of 2004-2005 16334 students in 5769 nomadic schools were studying which has shown an increase of 16 per cent in number of students and 15 per cent increase in number of educational centres.

Education for adults

142.In Iran, Iranian Literacy Movement is considered as the sole organization responsible for rendering educational services up to the end the primary courses for adults. Therefore, given the two decades of successful experiences in the literacy movement of the above-mentioned organization and in view of the future needs within the framework 2025 Vision Plan, main strategies for promotion of literacy in the country include full literacy of all people from various ages, promotion of knowledge of the students, activating the NGOs and the private sector in the literacy movement, development of literacy in the form of distance education and semi attendance learning as well as reform of the educational system.

143.Iranian Literacy Movement Organization has appropriated especial budget for defining and organizing especial education programmes in the provinces in which different sects and tribes are living with the purpose to remove deprivation and discrimination in the education sector. The following table shows the budget appropriated in this respect. As it is clear this budget has mainly been allocated to the education of women and girls given meticulous attention paid to the local and regional requirements.

Table 28

The budget allocated for removing discrimination in the education sectorin the provinces where different sects and tribes are living during the past three years (figures are in Rial)

No.	Name of province	2003	2004	2005
1	East Azerbaijan	3 471 227 000	4 048 654 774	7 104 408 000
2	West Azerbaijan	6 777 655 000	6 607 316 102	6 062 422 000
3	Ardebil	3 939 242 000	4 036 600 000	4 471 060 000
4	Elam	929 289 000	1 388 900 000	1 708 476 000
5	Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari	1 985 794 000	2 017 700 000	1 411 746 000
6	Khuzestan	4 779 722 000	8 243 160 000	8 300 230 000
7	Zanjan	1 067 785 000	838 400 000	1 991 974 000
8	Sistan & Baluchestan	6 408 797 000	6 881 600 000	13 470 814 000
9	Kurdestan	6 395 164 296	47 016 000 000	6 353 800 000
10	Kermanshah	1 526 860 000	2 046 800 000	1 463 160 000
11	Kohkiloye & Boyer Ahmad	449 803 000	910 920 000	826 908 000
12	Golestan	471 819 000	647 300 000	1 818 036 000
13	Lorestan	1 373 692 000	1 593 680 000	3 273 028 000

144.Within the literacy programme of the Fourth Development Plan we can witness an annual increase of the relevant budget of 2005 as compared with its previous year.

145.The number of students who have been able to finish literacy programme have increased in the recent years. This is shown clearly in the following table:

Table 29

Number of students who have finished the literacy programmes in the provinces with different tribes and sects (within a three-year period)

No.	Name of province	2002	2003	2004
1	East Azerbaijan	30 019	30 518	42 713
2	West Azerbaijan	28 315	39 909	51 125
3	Ardebil	18 653	27 779	25 380
4	Elam	7 724	8 565	9 713
5	Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari	3 627	7 035	9 515
6	Khuzestan	36 038	53 773	72 869
7	Zanjan	7 303	8 203	8 991
8	Sistan & Baluchestan	36 828	47 648	73 463
9	Kurdestan	16 055	23 349	35 578
10	Kermanshah	18 293	23 679	22 074
11	Kohkiloye & Boyer Ahmad	8 815	9 405	14 663
12	Golestan	10 988	7 022	5 248
13	Lorestan	17 528	18 463	19 648
	Total	240 186	305 348	400 980

146.The Literacy Movement Organization is quite active in education of nomads. The following table shows the statistics of the nomads covered in the targeted provinces from 2002 to 2004.

Table 30

Year	Students covered in the targeted provinces
Primary	Secondary	Final	Fifth	Total
2002	1 351	811	727	161	3 050
2003	4 796	1 482	758	433	7 469
2004	5 746	1 903	525	252	8 426

147.With the purpose to unify theme of the subjects relating to population and fertility health participation in creating a favorable social political atmosphere which shall be useful in implementation of population, development and health fertility programmes as well as participation in unifying issues relating to the equality of women and men, the Iranian Literacy Movement in provinces of Bushehr, Kurdistan, Sistan & Baluchestan, Golestan and city of Islamshar put a project into force at all levels (main percentage of the residents of these provinces are not Persian and the mentioned programmes were implemented for their enhancement).

148.In conclusion in the wake of implementation of the mentioned programmes certain results were achieved as follows:

(a)Education of 400 of the staff of the project in the relevant areas in order for them to familiarize them with new teaching methods as well as methods for planning and participatory management;

(b)Education of 500 of teachers of the said provinces in order them to become familiar with participatory teaching and learning methods;

(c)Teaching of population related subjects in around 18000 literacy classes for 240000 students in different courses;

(d)Compiling and publishing different pamphlets, handbooks, booklets and two quarterly magazines on the following subjects:

Girls, women and new born children health care in simple language with circulation of 100,000.

Treatment of children from birth to 6 years old, with circulation of 100,000.

Treatment of teenagers with circulation of 100,000.

Season of blossoming with circulation of 500,000.

Two volumes of guide books concerning medium of training population for the guides and teachers, with circulation of 15000. These volumes include latest scientific information and new methods in teaching and literacy movement.

Publication of two scientific-educational quarterly magazine on titled Payame Zendegi, with circulation of 120,000.

(e)Holding a conference attended by local authorities and around 6000 participants;

(f)Publication of 60 local and national periodicals on population and parents responsibilities related issues.

Higher education

149.According to the principles of the holy religion of Islam and based on the Constitution of Iran, all rules and regulations of the higher education of Iran have been adopted based on non‑discrimination equality of people irrespective of their tribes or sects and the priority. Main guide lines of the Ministry of Science Research and Technology are based upon providing equal opportunities for all, and every body’s access to equal opportunities for education. This is one of the main characteristics of admittance of students which in itself conduced to increasing number of female students who have already superseded the male students. Presently, 60 per cent of all students in Iran are female and the rest 40 per cent are male. It is notified that no restriction is set for people from different sects and tribes for entering Iranian universities.

150.One of the most important policies of Iran’s higher education is development of less developed areas and regions as well as promotion of higher education and increase number of universities in these areas. In this respect during last two decades number of policies have been adopted based on educational justice to that extent that currently nearly all parts of the country enjoy universities and higher education centres. In this context, as supplementary measures a number of non profit and non-governmental higher education centres have also been established which shall be responsive to a number of needs of the students.

151.Concerning university admission of people from different tribes and sects the following table provides figures on the admission of students in the national entrance examination in 2004 and 2005. As it is seen in the following table provinces of West Azerbaijan and Kurdistan, which are the Kurdish provinces of the country, with 17.54 per cent and 16.33 per cent in 2004 supersede the Tehran province (14.34 per cent) and the total Average of admission of students throughout the country (15.23 per cent). In 2005, the share of Kurdistan province amounted to 21.08 per cent as compared with Tehran province (20.13 per cent) and total average throughout the country amounted to (19.87 per cent). Also admission of students in West Azerbaijan province stood at 19.98 per cent as compared with total average of the country amounting to (19.87 per cent).

Table 31

No.	Province	Year	Volunteers	Admitted	The admitted (%)
Female	Male	Total	Female	Male	Total	Female	Male	Total
1	West Azerbaiejan	2004	288 873	23 705	52 578	4 703	4 520	9 223	16.29	19. 07	17 . 54
2005	27 901	22 008	49 909	5 162	4 808	9 970	18.50	21.85	19.98
2	East Azerbaiejan	2004	50 143	32 160	82 303	7 534	4 986	12 420	14.83	15.50	15.09
2005	46 848	30 155	77 003	8 630	6 007	14 637	18.42	19.92	19.01
3	Chahar mahal & Bakhtiari	2004	16 250	11 258	27 508	2 450	1 422	3 874	15.09	12.63	14.08
2005	14 900	9 611	24 511	3 065	1 831	4 896	20.57	19.05	19.97
4	Ardebil	2004	18 049	13 210	31 259	2 383	1 922	4 306	13.20	14.56	13.78
2005	17 003	12 056	29 059	2 966	2 314	5 280	17.44	29.19	18.17
5	Kermanshah	2004	34 003	26 652	60 650	4 505	3 703	8 208	13. 25	13 . 89	13 . 53
2005	30 049	21 539	51 588	5 491	3 700	9 191	18.27	17.18	17.82
6	Golestan	2004	19 619	12 110	31 729	2 470	1 585	4 055	12.59	13.09	12.78
2005	17 488	10 977	29 365	3 164	1 867	5 031	18.09	17.16	17.74
7	Lorestan	2004	34 971	22 038	57 009	3 052	2 582	6 234	10.44	11.72	10.94
2005	29 285	17 687	46 972	4 365	2 917	7 282	14.91	16.49	15.50
8	Khozestan	2004	60 013	932 644	92 657	6 673	3 358	10 031	11 . 12	10.29	10.83
2005	56 302	28 783	85 085	8 041	3 656	11 697	14.28	12.70	13.75
9	Elam	2004	15 626	10 720	26 346	1 513	1 216	2 732	9.68	11.97	10.37
2005	13 011	8 657	21 668	1 925	1 307	3 232	14.80	15.10	14.92
10	Kohkiloye & Boyer Ahmad	2004	13 526	14 313	27 839	1 151	1 998	2 649	8.51	10.47	9.52
2005	11 832	11 479	23 311	1 427	1 651	3 078	12.06	14.38	13.20
11	Sistan & Baluchestan	2004	18 767	14 933	33 696	1 672	1 302	32 974	8.91	8.72	8.83
2005	19 653	16 326	35 979	1 915	1 535	3 451	9.75	9.40	9.59
12	Zanjan	2004	11 931	7 823	19 754	2 202	1 524	3 526	18.46	16.46	17.85
2005	12 143	7 635	19 778	2 565	1 597	4 162	21.12	20.92	21.04
13	Kurdestan	2004	16 136	14 630	30 766	2 342	2 682	5 024	14.51	18.33	16.33
2005	14 896	12 421	27 317	2 808	2 953	5 759	21.08	29.77	18.84

152.With the purpose to remove any possible problem for those admitted to universities and institutes of higher education, and provide necessary specialized personnel required in different regions and furthermore with the aim to guide the admitted students to continue their education in the field of their interest in their original birth place and residence, leading to reduction of their accommodation, economic and family problems; “the Student Selection Plan” for selecting students to continue their education in their original birth place was adopted base on which the chance for admission of student in their birth place and original residence was increased. Another issue in the Iranian universities entrance examination pertains to establishment of quota system and keeping of a part of universities admission capacity to the students of less developed areas. Main purpose of this plan is to do justice in education with respect to less developed areas. This plan also is useful in preventing migration of great number of students from their origin to big cities.

153.Based on adoption of the Committee on University Entrance Examination Study and Planning adopted on 1993 at least 40 per cent of total capacity of domestic and national fields of universities and institutes of higher education of provinces of Elam, Bushehr, Chahar Mahal & Bakhtiari, Sistan & Baluchestan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Kohkilooye & Boyer Ahmad, Lorestan and Hormozgan shall be appropriated to native volunteers of the said provinces provided that their score shall not be lower than the 85 per cent of the score of the last admitted volunteer in the entrance examination. Moreover 30 per cent of the total capacity of fields allocated to provinces and localities shall be distributed in a manner that a just distribution of capacity will be realized within the provinces as compared with the total capacity of the universities and institutes of higher education given the number of volunteers as compared with the admitted students and implementation of quota system.

Table 32

Comparison	Volunteers	Admitted final	Ratio of Admitted	Free Admitted (free quota )	Free Admitted (%) (without quota)	Difference of Ratio of Admitted
Ardebil	24 611	5 282	21.46	4 991	20.28	1.18
East Azerbaijan	64 472	14 641	2 271	14 272	22.14	57
West Azerbaijan	41 882	9 975	23.82	4 733	23.24	58
Isfahan	86 146	25 649	29.77	26 109	29.15	63
Elam	18 384	3 236	30.44	3 044	16.56	1.04
Kermanshah	45 096	9 194	8 816	8 814	19.55	84
Bushehr	15 599	2 785	2 586	2 586	16.58	1.28
Tehran	232 946	58 372	58 656	58 656	25.18	12
Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari	19 558	4 899	4 474	4 474	22.88	2.17
Razavi Khorasan	81 608	28 763	23 159	23 159	28 038	88
Khuzestan	72 712	11 702	11 538	11 538	15.87	23
Zanjan	16 605	4 164	3 741	3 741	22.53	2.55
Semnan	10 693	3 234	2 766	2 766	25.87	4.37
Sistan & Baluchestan	27 473	3 454	2 683	2 683	9.77	2.81
Fars	90 745	21 482	23.67	21 354	43.53	1.08
Kurdestan	23 671	5 766	24.36	5 511	23.28	1.08
Kerman	43 071	9 511	22.08	8 309	19.29	2.79
Kohkilooye & Boyer Ahmad	20 091	3 082	15.34	2 786	13.87	1.47
Gilan	37 895	9 133	24.10	9 021	23.81	30
Lorestan	41 281	7 285	17.65	6 996	16.95	70
Mazandaran	57 777	15 431	26.71	15 092	26.12	59
Markazi	20 236	5 634	27.84	5 364	26.51	1.33
Hormozgan	21 460	3 482	16.23	3 236	15.08	1.15
Hamedan	30 458	7 641	25.04	7 232	23.74	1.34
Yazd	17 240	6 909	40.08	6 688	38.79	1.28
Abrood	475	92	19.37	81	17.05	2.32
Qom	17 020	5 182	30.45	4 898	28.78	1.67
Qazvin	17 013	4 398	25.85	4 077	23.96	1.89
Golestan	24 208	5 032	20.79	4 843	20.10	78
North Khorasan	11 594	2 950	25.44	2 858	24.65	79
South Khorasan	7 281	2 393	32.87	2 251	30.92	1.85
Total	1 239 301	2 958 866	23.87	286 135	23.09	79

154.Iranian Welfare Organization (Behzisti) is financially supporting students of those families who are enjoying supportive umbrella of the organization in order that the students continue their education and enable their families to deal with their financial problems.

Table 33

Statistics of these students who enjoyed supportive umbrella of theWelfare Organization in 2004-2005 in urban and rural areas

No.	Name of province	Urban areas	Rural areas	Total
1	East Azerbaijan	169	87	256
2	West Azerbaijan	93	29	122
3	Ardebil	87	22	109
4	Elam	226	64	290
5	ChaharMahal Bakhtiari	82	74	156
6	Khuzestan	756	156	912
7	Zanjan	34	13	47
8	Sistan & Baluchestan	45	15	60
9	Kermanshah	291	97	388
10	Kohkilooye va Boyer Ahmad	292	194	486
11	Kurdestan	227	63	290
12	Golestan	38	8	46
13	Lorestan	515	171	686

155.As it was mentioned in the previous report in addition to Government of universities, Islamic Azad University as a private university is shouldering some responsibilities for teaching students in higher education.

156.With the purpose of providing everybody with higher education services, Islamic Azad University has extended its academic units throughout the country and presently around 250 of these units are rendering their services to interested people even in areas and localities which are less developed or grappling with the worst weather conditions and climate or in the remote areas.

157.With regard to statistics of academic board of units and ratio of local and non local professors in the Universities, policy of the Islamic Azad University is to select the professors and members of the academic board out of local people in order to have academic board members quite familiarized with local situation and conditions. It goes without saying that where the local people are not available professors from other cities and parts of the country are appointed in this respect.

158.Currently in the Islamic Azad University more than 95 per cent of the staff and most chancellors and members of the academic boards have been selected from the local people. This is to the benefit of the universities in the matter of efficiency and financial aspect. We shall notify that localization of female students is of the priority in the relevant policies.

159.Since 10 years ago Islamic Azad University has established non-profit Sama chain schools in order to educate students in local areas in and prepare them for entering universities in the place of their residence.

Vocational internship

160.Technical Vocation Organization based on the general policies of .Iran has targeted the increase of all class of people’s access to vocational facilities, regardless of their ethnicity, language, race, colour, religion, sex and even age. The domain of these facilities with the distribution of more than 500 State run training centres and tens of thousands of vocation institutes, along with more than one hundred development projects mainly in less developed and remote areas and distant boarder areas across the country, is a good proof. Each year special credits are allocated for the continuation of the day and night vocation centres to cover those who have no easy access to vocational training. In addition, the use of those educational methods for the prisoners, soldiers and industry is in line with the implementation of the strategy of access and equity.

161.With regard to aforesaid points, the performance of the technical vocation organization in two government and non-government sectors during the year 2004 and the first six months of 2002 are as follows:

Year 2004

Table 34

Ethnicity	Government section in 2004	Non-government in 2004
4 Azari provinces	60 492	73 828
3 Lor Provinces	22 936	31 583
3 Kurd Provinces	26 567	36 450
1 Baloch province	17 783	13 739
Half of Khouzestan	10 636	45 182
17 Provinces half of Khouzestan	308 301	965 173
Total	446 715	1 165 955

First six months of 2005

Table 35

Ethnicity	Government sector	Non-government sector
4 Azari provinces	27 381	28 676
3 Lor Provinces	9 554	17 020
3 Kurd Provinces	9 809	15 285
1 Baloch province	6 462	4 579
Half of Khouzestan	5 410	2 290
17 Provinces + Fars and half of Khouzestan	120 363	356 130

Refugees

162.A bill ratified by the Government regarding the education of Afghan refugees provides that:

Education of the Afghan refugees who do not have legal certificate to stay in Iran and those Afghan children who are living in Iran legally but due to their father’s job, they have been forced to change their places, is authorized.

The Ministry of Education and the Literacy Movement Organization are obliged to cover the Afghan refugees by using vacant capacity, and providing books and teachers.

The Ministry of Education is allocated a sum of 10,000,000,000 Rials to spend on those Afghan refugees who have not been educated, especially children and women.

Despite no forms of help have been granted to the Afghan and Iraqi refugees by international organizations to study in Iran universities so far, right now 986 Afghan students and 110 Iraqi students are studying in Iran’s universities.

At the present, more than 320 Iraqi and Afghan refugees are studying in Azad University in various courses and different levels and they are provided the same facilities as the Iranian students are.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs considers equal and just access to educational opportunities as a right of all people in our society and even the youth of other nations. To do so, this Ministry has held different training courses for Afghan and Tajik youth in technical vocation centres and also sent trainers to other developing countries to share knowledge with them.

The right to take part in cultural activities with equal conditions

163.The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance as the responsible body for cultural policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, aims at eliminating any forms of ethnic, racial and religious discrimination in the cultural sphere of the country. Not only does it not impose cultural prohibitions on religious and ethnic minorities, but it also has been responsible for attracting the participation of cultural figures from minorities in Iran.

164.Holding art festivals during last two years, six film festivals in provinces of ethnic minorities, two social film festivals in Khouzestan, two family film festivals in west Azerbaijan, two comedy films in Bakhtiyari are among the activities in this field. It is important to mention that each year student theater festival is held. It is important to mention that certain festivals of Student Theater have been held with the participation of different ethnic groups.

165.Seven cultural-tourist festivals have been held in different provinces as follows:

Tourism, Nature and Mineral water festival in Ardebil

Tourism, Religions and Dialogue among Civilization in Oromyeh

Tourism, Handicraft and local Arts festival in Zanjan

Tourism, Cultural and Nomad Traditions festival in Shahre Kurd

Tourism, and Green life of Kurdestan festival in Sanandaj

Tourism and Attractions of Sistan and Baluchestan festival in Chabahar

Tourism and Traditional Arts festival in Boshehr

166.Some other initiatives in this regard are as follows:

Inauguration of the festival of ethnic Exhibition and museum by the Cultural Heritage Organization

Establishment of the museum of Anthropology in Ardebil

Establishment of the museum of Anthropology in Sanandaj

Establishment of the museum of Anthropology in Boshehr

Holding the anthropology and ethnic culture of Baluch and Sistan Exhibition, Daneshjoo park

International Seminar on Norooz and Dialogue among Civilizations in connection with different Iranian ethnicities, Bam

Tourism and Island and Sea civilization festival in Hormozgan

International Seminar on Iran's ancient archeology in South-Eastern of Sistan

Archeology Exhibition of South-East of Iran, Zahedan-Tehran

Civilization, Tourism and Historic Attractions festival

Zagros, Lorestan

Tourism attractions and Elam civilization festival

Exhibition of Traditional Arts of Sistan and Balouchestan

Exhibition of Anthropology of Elam Region

Photo Exhibition of Kermanshah Anthropology

Exhibition of Anthropology of Bandar-e-Kong

Exhibition of Anthropology of Tangestan

Exhibition of Anthropology of Hormozgan

Exhibition of Anthropology Dashtestan-e-Boushehr

Exhibition of Balouch Garment

Exhibition of Jewlery and Anthropology of Kurd Women

Exhibition of Traditional Garment of Turkmans

Table 36

Most important programmes and activities done in Cultural and social affairsof Nomads in the Third Development Programme (2000-2004)

	Title of programme	Venue	Year	Duration	Organizer	Sponsor
1	First poet and music of nomads	Khavaran cultural hall	2002	One day	Nomads Affairs Organization	Nomads affairs of provinces
2	Nomads Music	Vahdat Hall	2003	One day	Iran music society
3	Photo Exhibition	Akaskhanesh Gallary	2004	One week	Nomads Affairs Organization
4	Exhibition of Women Photos	Akaskhaneh Gallary	2004	One week	“
5	Nomadic Tribes Documentary	Khozestan province	2004	10 programmes	“
6	Nomadic Documentary	Khozestan and Chaharmahal-o-Bakhtiyari provinces	2004-2005	15 programmes	“
7	Choosing the best research on Nomads	Ministry of Agricultural Jihad	2003	One day	“
8	Publishing Calendar	Tehr an	2004	-	Nomad Cooperative
9	Publishing Photo Album	Tehran	2004	One week	Student Affairs of Tehran University
10	Capabilities of the Nomads Festival	Tehran Sa’d Abad Complex	2003	One week	Nomads Affairs Organization
11	Tourism Festival	Tehran Sa’d Abad Complex	2003	One week	“
12	Producing 20 Documentaries	Nomadic regions	2003-2004	Two years	Nomads Affairs Organization and Channel 1,2 and 3 of IRIB
13	National se minar on Iran Nomad Association	Tehran Haleh Hotel	2004	Two days	“

Table 37

The most important programmes and activities done in cultural and social affairsby nomads during the third development programme (2000-2003)

Province	Handicraft festival and Nomad abilities	Ritual and traditional festival	Cultural Exhibition of Nomads	Participation in Exhibition	Nomads martyrdom memorial	Cultural and sport festival of Nomad	Producing Nomad Documentary	Television and Radio programs	Conducting music	Producing magazines and information
East Azarbaijan	4	6	4	4	1	2	5	8	4	6
West Azarbaijan	2	5	4	4	-	2	5	7	3	-
Ardabil	4	3	4	4	2	-	6	4	2	-
Elam	1	1	1	1	-	2	1	4	2	-
Isfehan	4	2	3	3	-	-	6	3	-	-
Boshehr	2	2		2	-	-	3	2	-	-
Chaharmahal al -o- Bakhtiyari	3	3	2	2	-		10	3	5
Khorasan	5	1	2	2	-	1	5	7	2	2
Khozestan	2	2	3	4	-		15	7	2	-
Sistan-o- Balochestan	5	4	2	5	-	2	14	8	3	1
Fars	4	5	4	5	1	1	6	10	5	-
Kerman	2	2	1	2	-	1	3	4	1	-
Kermanshah	2	4	2	3	-	1	4	2	5	-
Golestan	2	-	-	1	-	1	5	-	-	-
Lorestan	3	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	2	-
Tehran	6	5	5	18	-	-	4	5	7	1
Markazi	1	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Hamedan	1	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Hormozgan	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	58	51	41	68	4	15	96	81	44	12

167.In order to evaluate the measures to rationalize the nomads and to organize their the future, some measures have been taken under the auspices of the “scientific and research activities” which are summarized as follows:

Publishing Scientific-Cultural periodical, nature visitors booklet and some books published by Nomads publications

Supporting Scientific and Cultural authors relating to nomads

Preparing the registration of migration as cultural heritage by UNESCO

Honouring the veteran and Scientific-Cultural elites of Nomads

Supporting artists to make documentaries

Holding photo Exhibitions with the participation of artists

168.The IRIB as the national media pays attention in covering its audiences from every language and ethnicity, and is influential in giving information as the pillar of growth a full fledge development for all Iranian without any discrimination.

169.The IRIB as the national media takes measures in training and educating skillful, expert and specialist from all over the country and every ethnic group without any discrimination.

170.The IRIB by establishing and expanding radio and television programmes in each region in their language and dialects has been active in discussing the problems and questions of the different regions.

171.The establishment, equipping and development of provincial radio stations with emphasizing on news, folklore and native arts relating to the same ethnic group in different provinces are in progress. IRIB is serving to strengthen national solidarity and culture of unity and at the same time responding to cultural diversity and different languages.

Article 6

172.In line with implementation of the Convention, deputy of judiciary power in education held a meeting with judicial authorities of the provinces resided by ethnic minorities to fight any discrimination among racial and ethnic minorities in 2003. Also the details of the Convention and its importance and non-discriminatory performance of the courts in the aforesaid meeting were discussed.

173.There are no ideas and special procedures regarding discrimination in the country’s courts, and the registry system is manual and special cases are not searchable. But there are cases which official authorities have been punished because of negligence, shortcoming, bribery and so on. In each of the administrative courts, Supreme Court and General Inspector Organization there are ideas which deal with the prevention of discrimination.

174.The human rights headquarters, established in 2005, are obliged to deal with public complaints, from NGOs both inside and outside the country regarding the reports on violation of human rights. It is to be mentioned that although these headquarters are presided by the head of Judiciary Power, they have higher stance than the judiciary, legislative and executive branches. The Headquarters’ members are from the Judiciary Power, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Intelligence.

175.In some parts of the country there are special court branches to deal with the violation of citizen rights such as for example the branch 116 of penal court of Isfehan.

176.The Tehran justice department has conducted inspection, without any discrimination of all prisons, judicial complexes, and police stations and has delivered its report to the judicial authorities.

Article 7

177.The following are some of the activities that have been done in educational, cultural and mass media dimensions in order to promote friendship and brotherhood and foster peace and tolerance among the ethnic groups of the country.

Educational

178.Expansion of culture of peace and education and promoting the spirit of international cooperation and understanding are among the objectives of the Ministry of Education. In this regard membership of Iranian schools in the network affiliated to UNESCO is one of the major activities of the Ministry of Education.

179.In this regard every year a number of Iranian teachers participate in the International Understanding Courses of UNESCO and share their experiences with others. So far 80 schools in 21 provinces have joined the network and the number of schools joining to the network is increasing.

180.One of the most important measures taken by Ministry of Education in the field of teaching human rights was the project of “Human Rights Teaching” at schools. The aim of the course was dissemination of the culture of human rights for students and teachers.

181.The executive plan for the quality education programme (Global Education) with the cooperation of UNESCO was launched in 1998 with the aim of expanding the culture of peace and social justice, encouraging the feeling of responsibility and participation and respecting the rights of the others at all levels.

182.The aforesaid project in 2001 has been executed in 20 selected schools from 5 provinces of western Azarbaijan, Kurdestan, Hormozghan, Sistan and Balochestan and Tehran in the level of elementary and secondary schools. Right now 40 schools are implementing this project. The project of expanding of global education has been decided to be implemented at broader level in the country.

183.The international plan for education of girls in order to achieve millennium goals and ensuring appropriate and qualified education for all the children till 2015, and elimination of all kinds of gender discrimination in the educational systems in the remote provinces has been implemented with the cooperation of UNICEF.

184.Various training workshops have been held in 2004, with the participation and cooperation of UNICEF for the achievement of broad-based education, crisis management, training on the prevention of AIDS and training on sustainable development.

185.Implementation of the project named “Loving Child Schools” since 2003 in Bam city is running, with the cooperation and technical support of UNESCO. These schools have been established with the aim of respecting individual and cultural diversities among students and to eliminate any kind of discrimination and deprivation in the educational system.

186.Every year on the occasion of the world Human Rights Day and the establishment of the United Nations Organization, different educational workshops are held with the cooperation of Information Center of United Nations Organization at Tehran and also with the support of the active NGOs, and there are scientific visits of students from different offices of the United Nations Organization in the country, with the aim of getting familiar with the goals and objectives of the United Nations in order to establish peace and the spirit of understanding and coexistence.

187.One of the significant measures taken in the field of human rights training, was establishing and expanding the course of human rights at the Master's level (M.A) in some universities in the country. The courses of human rights and international conventions are taught in the faculties of law and political science.

188.The following table indicates the increasing number of students who studied human rights, and the admission of students in other courses of Law at the Bachelor's level (B.A) in the State universities, between the years 2003 and 2004:

Table 38

Year	2002	2003	2004
Daily	Night	Daily courses	Night courses
Human right		28	11	43	10
Private law	73	82	43	77	36
International law	87	73	18	63	12
Criminal and penal law	71	61	39	65	29
Public law	31	33	15	28	15

189.The following table indicates the rate of admission of students in the human rights courses (Bachelor) in the years 2005-2006:

Table 39

State universities	Tehran University	Shahid Beheshti university	Alameh Tabatabai university	Mofied university of Ghom
Number of students	7	12	12	15

190.The seat for the courses on human rights, peace and democracy of UNESCO was established in the 2001 in Shahid Beheshti University with the cooperation of UNESCO. The main activities of this seat in the fields of training and teaching of human rights are as follows:

(a)To define and adopt the courses on “human rights” and “international order on human rights” at Master level and international law at doctorate level;

(b)To define and compile the course on human rights at the Master level (approved by the Ministry of Higher Education);

(c)To provide a course on human rights at master;

(d)To establish a professional centre and library for United Nations documents and an Internet website;

(e)The workshops and training courses which have been held in this regard are as follows:

Short-term training course on “civil and human rights” for governors of Tehran province and directors of the office of the Governor General (fall 2001)

Preliminary training course for the professors and teachers of human rights courses, with the cooperation of the organization for defending victims of violence (winter 2001)

The workshop on “civil and human rights” for the representatives of the active NGOs that are active in the field of women’s rights (spring and summer 2002)

Short-term public training course on human rights for the students at the law faculty of Shahid Beheshti university (May 2002)

Short-term public training course on human rights for the students of Tehran University (Nov. 2002)

Short-term training workshop on “human rights and prison” with the cooperation of the Research and Training Center of the Organization of Prisons, for directors and heads of all the prisons of country (March 2003)

Workshop on human rights for young people (November-December 2004)

Human rights course for governors of Kordestan province (2005)

Human rights course for deputies, governors, and heads of political bureaus of Kordestan province ( 2005)

Workshop on Human rights and minorities with the cooperation of NGOs of the Kordestan province (2005)

Workshop on human rights and peace (2005)

Workshop on the right of scientific progress and the International Criminal Court (2005)

Specialized course on emergency situations with the participation of the European Center of Public Laws (2005)

Workshop on “Humanitarian Law and employment” with the consideration of the seat on human rights, peace and democracy of the Shahid Beheshti University and International Committee of Red Cross (2005)

Preliminary workshop on “Methodology of training human rights to children with the cooperation of Denmark Center on Human Rights (2005)

Meetings and conferences

Scientific meetings on “human rights, the rights of women and work” with participation of Alen Toreh (French sociologist) and members of the scientific board of human rights seat of law faculty of Shahid Beheshti University (fall 2001)

Scientific seminar on “ roots of right” with participation of Mr. Sadegh Larijani and members of the scientific board on human rights of Shahid Beheshti University (fall 2002)

Conference on “Humanitarian Law and Iraq crisis” with the participation of professor Broderlin, professor of Research Center on Human Rights of Harvard University

Seminar on “prohibition of torture” in cooperation with the Denmark Institute on Human Rights (2003)

International meeting on “identity, cultural diversity and human rights” (November 2003)

Conference on “Birth and Human Rights in religions future”, in cooperation with Birmingham University (2004)

Seminar on “promotion of virtue, human rights” with participation of Dr. Mohagegh Damad, Dr. Seyyed Fatemi and Dr. Nobahar (Oct. 2004)

Seminar on “training human rights” on the occasion of the first decade of international training on human rights, with the cooperation of Development Programme of the United Nations organization (UNDP) (June 2004)

International meeting on civil rights, human rights and religion (Dec. 2004)

Lecture by Mr. Abdul Aziz Sachdina, professor of Virginia University, on “globalization of human rights” (June 2005)

Conference on “globalization of human rights” with participation of Michaell Ignatief, Head of Human Rights Center at Harvard university (July 2005)

Seminar on “child abuse” in cooperation with the commission on human rights of bar associations and association on supporting the rights of child (Nov. 2005)

Public conference on “human rights” with the participation of professor Shabas, professor for human rights at the faculty of Ireland university

Thirty Three Research Projects (tran slation and compiling) such as:

Research on the meaning and concept of human rights by Dr. Seyyed Mohammad Ghari Seyyed Fatemi (2002)

Translation of “Human Rights International Documents - first volume” by Dr. Ardeshir Amir Arjemand - Shahid Beheshti University (2002)

Translation of “Humanity of the Human identity” written by Edgar Morean, translated by Dr. Amir Nik Pay - (2003)

Translation of the “International bill of Human Rights (fact sheet No. 2 - OHCHR)

Translation of “The rights of Indigenous Peoples” (fact sheet No. 9 - OHCHR)

Translation of the “The Rights of the Child ” (fact sheet No. 10 - OHCHR)

Translation of the “International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination” (fact sheet No. 12 - OHCHR)

Translation of “International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (fact sheetNo. 13 - OHCHR)

Translation of “Civil and Political Rights - the Human Rights Committee (fact sheetNo. 15 - OHCHR)

Translation of “Minority Rights” (fact sheet No. 18 - OHCHR)

Translation of the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the concerned Committee” (fact sheet No. 22 - OHCHR)

Translation of the “Seventeen Frequently Asked Questions about United Nations Special Rapporteurs” (fact sheet No. 27 - OHCHR)

Translation of the text: “Concepts and Criteria of Human Rights”

Translation of the text: “International Friendly Human Rights”

Translation of the “Regional Human Rights Documents” by Dr. Ardeshir Amir Arjemand

Eight research projects under implementation

Eighteenth M.A. thesis on human rights regarding the recognition of obstacles and the fields for implementing human rights among Kord women

191.Mofied University is one of the centres active in the field of human rights. Here we refer to some of its activities:

Admitting students in the human rights courses at the master level since 2004, and at present many students are studding in this field at master level

One-week educational workshop on civil rights, was held in July 2005 for the women of Ghome province

Holding different scientific meetings and seminars on human rights:

(a)International seminar on “human rights and dialogue among civilizations” (May 2001);

(b)International seminar on “theoretical concepts of human rights” (May 2003);

(c)International festival on “choosing the best book on human rights in Islam” (May 2004);

(d)International seminar on “diversities, identities and human rights” (May 2005);

(e)Compiling the students thesis on “different subjects of human rights”.

192.Another important and active centre in the field of human rights training, is the political science and law faculty of Tehran university. The political science and law faculty of Tehran University, has admitted 53 students for a master's degree, within four periods, and in February 2005, 11 students graduated in this field.

193.The political science and law faculty, within the framework of its joint project with UNDP called for “strengthening the research and training capacities on human rights”, has published 15 books (translation or compilation) as follows:

Strengthening international cooperation in the field of human rights (2003)

Human rights institutes: the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United Nations 2003

Rights and prospective 2002

Selection of the most important international documents on human rights (2003)

Human rights and concepts of equality, justice and fairness 2004

Public and individual freedoms and human rights (2003)

Human rights in the new millennium (2002)

Development under the concept of freedom 2002

Human rights 2001

Human rights 2001 (thesis and practices)

Freedom of expression (2003)

The philosophy of human rights and explaining its concepts (2005)

Human rights, new aspects and challenges (2004)

194.The political science and law faculty of the International Centre for Higher Studies of has made various efforts in the field of human rights training and training on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In this field we can refer to:

Training on the Convention on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination for PHD international relations students

Training on the first chapter of the Convention on the course of global mechanism on supporting human rights, for the M.A. students of human rights

Training on the Convention in the courses related to minorities’ rights for the M.A. students of human rights

Publishing the conclusions of a project on “the concepts of equality, justice and fairness from human rights’ point of view” by Dr. Mohammad Ashuri

Performing a research on the “different forms of contemporary slavery and exploitation of women and children” by Dr. Seyyed Ezatollah Iraqi

Performing a research on the “rule of law and human rights” by Dr. Naser Katozian

Lecture by professor Mosha Karji, the Secretary-General of the International Movement Against all Kinds of Racial Discrimination entitled “Prevailing over Asia crisis from the human rights and minorities rights’ point of view”

Distributing the publications on “strengthening the capacities of education and research on human rights” to all universities, public and private centres and to the central provinces such as Kordestan

Encouraging students to perform research in the field of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination o and to prepare a thesis in this field

195.Other state universities of Iran which have faculties on political science, law and international relations, shall teach human rights and other conventions in this regard. In this field we can refer to:

Compiling of two thesis at master level at Shiraz university in the fields of human rights and rights of minorities in the constitution

Compiling three thesis in the fields of human rights and Iranian tribes, in the Alameh Tabatabai University

196.In addition to state universities, the Islamic Free University has provided seats for international relations and courses related to human rights.

Table 40

Certain thesis compiled according to the subject of the Convention and the rightsof ethnic groups in the Islamic Free university

No.	Name of student	Title	Year
1	Naghmeh Safarian	The prospective of racial discrimination in Lengestan Heyos, poetry	2000
2	Hossein Godarzi	Political development and participation of Kord society of Iran with view on ethnic and religious diversities	1999
3	Ayyob Godarzi	Relation between structuralism and ethnic and its role in national integration with focus on ethnic of Baluch	1999
4	Seyfallah saed	Relations between national identity and ethnic identity in Kordestan province	2001
5	Hassan Golpayegani	Globalization and its effect on ethnic and sect identity	2001
6	Sadin maryam	The moral and behavior of ethnic groups during the election of the representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly	2001
7	Yazrelo Atyeh	Studying different aspects of sociology among ethnic groups in Golestan province	2002
8	Mostafa Karimi	Ethnic issues in the province of “Chahar Mahaleh Bakhtiari” and its effects on social, political issues of the province	1999
9	Ali Akbar Nazar marand	Reviewing the basis and causes of emergence of ethnic violations in Khozestan province
10	Karam Jafari	The rights of ethnic groups in the constitution	2003
11	Ali Akbar Kazemi	National and ethnic opinions in the poems of Mahyar Deilami

197.During the last two years, many citizens from the areas of ethnic groups have become members of the Human Rights Voluntary Network and are active in the field of human rights.

198.The members of this Network implement the broad-based programmes of human rights in their own provinces and continuously collect all the reports concerning the implementation of human rights and transfer there reports to the concerned provinces or centres.

Cultural

199.Till now two festivals concerning the students publications in Azari language, have been held in the universities of Khajeh Nasiredien Toosi and Bo Ali Sina (2002-2004). In these festivals the best publications in Azari language were chosen and awarded.

200.For introducing the culture, custom and traditions of different Iranian ethnic groups, art and cultural week of students were held during the year 2002, in four different cities of the country as follows:

Tabriz university (May-June 2002)

Razi university of Kermanshah (May 2002)

Shahid Chamran university of Ahvaz (May 2002)

Shiraz university (May-June 2002)

201.During these weeks, different programmes were performed such as meeting for getting familiar with the customs and traditions of Azarbaijan province, playing Kordish and Azari music, holding exhibitions on Kordish and Azari traditional dress, and a competition on literature of local languages.

202.The first students’ tourism and environmental festival was held from 23 to 28 August 2003 in Urmia university. The main part of this festival was to introduce different Iranian ethnic groups such as Kords, Azaris, Lours, Balouchs and the Arab speaking etc. The event tried to introduce the customs, traditions, cultures, languages and foods of different ethnic groups.

203.The Tehran University Hostel as the biggest students resident, held the cultural week of provinces for two years. The first was held from 11 to 18 March 2002 and the second on May 2003.

204.All planning and performance of these two events were done by students belonging to different ethnic groups, who reside in the Tehran university hostel. During these events 28 stalls were held and the students introduced their ethnic groups and people in these stalls. The most significant part of the programme was the playing of folklore music.

205.A seminar entitled “Commonalities of different religions on Children” which was called “A Gift to God” was held by Al Zahra university in August 2002. In this gathering different training workshops were held on the teachings of Armeni, Jewish and Ashori literatures. Also there were questioning and answering regarding Jewish and Zoroastrian religions. Various scientific dialogues were discussed concerning holy Quoran, Bible and the old Testament (torah) as well. All the students from different religions played important and active role in this seminar.

206.In the “sixth literature festival of the students of the country” which a significant part of the festival was allotted to the works of students in Kordish, Azari, Loori, Arabic, Balouchi and Turkaman languages. It is expected that many students from different ethnic groups play an active role in these activities.

207.Approving of curricula for Azari, Kordi, Arabic, Armenian and Urdu literature at bachelor level. Meanwhile 128 publications from different ethnic groups are published in the country.

Media

208.The Radio and TV of Iran as the main national mass media, pay enough attention to cover all different languages and ethnicities and play an important role in giving appropriate information which has a pivotal role in the development of whole nation.

209.The following points indicate the efforts and measures taken by Radio and TV Organizations regarding the elimination of all kinds of racial discrimination:

Dissemination of positive perception of cultural diversity of different ethnic groups, and elimination of the culture of expressing detest against other ethnic groups or having racial superiority or arrogant such as Pan Touranism, Pan Arabism or Pan Turkism … etc., through broadcasting Radio and TV attractive programmes such as the film of “ Tears of Winter” from channel one.

Dissemination of interactions to point out the commonalties among different existing cultures in the country, by broadcasting the programmes which introduce the periodical events such as religious festivals of different ethnic groups, the move of the tribes from one place to another, and the participation of people in the cultural works.

The Radio and TV, while introducing different cultures, try to create a kind of convergence among all the cultures and eliminate any forms of dislike and hatred.

To broadcast news, documentary and art programmes for the expansion of getting familiar with cultural diversity. Meanwhile the Radio and TV organization with the production and broadcasting of different films, try to eliminate the different pattern of racial discrimination that might exist among people themselves, and instead create friendship and cooperation among them through broad-casting appropriate films or commercial advertisement.

210.The activities of the radio networks with regards to ethnic groups are cited in the table below:

Table 41

Name of channel	Name of programme	Duration	Time	Day	Content of programme
National Network	Voice and melodies	30	21:30	Saturday	Presentation of music pieces with local identity and folklore poems
National Network	People’s culture	30	21:30	Friday	Describing the people’s culture in different regions of the country
National Network	The voice of village	80	19:00	Wednesday	Reviewing the situations of different villages of our country and presenting mechanisms for solving the problems of villages
Youth network	Flute	30	22:30	Every day	Broadcasting the songs of different regions of the country
Youth Network	Morning with a salutation	10	7:00	Monday and Wednesday	Broadcasting the songs of different regions of the country with the presence of singers
Communication Network	Half day messages	240	10:00	Friday	Introducing customs, culture of historical and tourist attractions of different regions.
Cultural Network	The legendary of each corner	30	13:30	Saturday Monday Wednesday	Broad casting stories and proverbs from different regions of the country
Cultural Network	Songs	30	13:30	Sunday Tuesday Thursday	Br oad casting songs from different regions of the country
Cultural Network	The language of people	30	14:30	Monday	Reviewing the beliefs of people in different aspects of life
Cultural Network	Story telling	30	14:30	Tuesday	Games and plays of different regions of the country
Cultural Network	Once upon a time	30	14:30	Wednesday	P osition of children in the common culture
Cultural Network	Anthropology	30	14:30	Thursday	Discussion concerning common culture
Cultural Network	Legendary and charm	30	14:30	Friday	Comparing different legends of Iran
Cultural Network	Iranology	30	16:00	Saturday	Reviewing cultural and historic situation of different regions of Iran
Cultural Network	Sage and wise	30	16:30	Sunday	Reviewing the social and cultural developments in different regions of Iran

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