Committee on the Rights of the Child

Sevent y-first session

11–29 January 2016

Item 4 of the provisional agenda

Consideration of reports of States parties

List of issues in relation to the combined third and fourth periodic reports of the Islamic Republic of Iran

The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 15 October 2015.

The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights set out in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

Part I

In this section, the State party is requested to submit its responses to the following questions.

With reference to the State party’s general reservation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, please explain which provisions of the Convention the State Party deems to be incompatible with Islamic laws.

Please indicate the measures taken to guarantee in law and practice the functioning of non-governmental organizations and activities working on children’s rights without repression, harassment, persecution and unnecessary interference. Please explain the reasons for closing, among others, the Association for the Defence of Working and Street Children in 2008 and the Society for Endeavouring to Achieve a World Worthy of Children in 2009.

Please indicate any measures taken to ensure that all legislation defines a child as a person under the age of 18 years and that all minimum age requirements, including the age of marriage and the age of criminal responsibility, conform to the Convention both in law and practice.

Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to establish an independent national human rights institution for the promotion and protection of the rights of the child.

Please provide the Committee with detailed information on the allocation of resources for implementation of the Convention, in particular resources aimed at children in the most marginalized and disadvantaged situations.

Please provide information on the outcome and progress of the judicial review under the 2014 “pilot judgement” by the Supreme Courtof the Islamic Republic of Iran of cases of persons on death row for crimes committed when they were below the age of 18 years. Please provide detailed information on the number ofpersons awaiting execution for crimes allegedly committed when they were below the age of 18 years andinform the Committee on the fate of SamanNaseem and BarzanNasrollahzadeh,who were awaiting execution. Please also provide a list of crimes that qualify as “the most serious crimes” and entail the death penalty. Please furtherexplain how children’s rights are protected under the q i sas process.

Please indicate the measures taken to eliminate the practice of killings, including in the name of so-called “honour”, and to repeal articles 301 and 612 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code, which provide impunity for perpetrators of such crimes.

Please indicate the measures taken toeliminate persistent discrimination in law and practice against girls, children with disabilities,children born out of wedlock, unregistered children, refugee and migrant children as well aslesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersexchildren.

Please explain the concrete measures taken to guarantee freedom of religion and beliefand efforts undertaken to protect children belonging to religious minorities, in particular Baha’i, Sufi and Yarsan children,as well as children from atheist and agnostic families.Please comment on information received according to which in 2012the Advocacy Council for the Right to Education announced that many Iranian students had been banned from education for their religious beliefs. Please also comment on information received that Baha’i teachers have been arrested and detained.

Please provide information on the measures taken to prevent widespread discrimination against children of ethnic minorities, such as Ahwazi Arabs, Azerbaijanis, Turks, Baloch and Kurds,in everyday life, including in access to education, as well as measures taken to addressreported targeted arrests, detentions, imprisonments, killings, torture and executions against such groups by the lawenforcement and judicial authorities.

Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to ensure the right of children to express their views in all matters concerning them, including at school, in the family, in courts, in administrative bodies and in society in general. Please provide examples of when and how children’s viewshave been given due weight.

Please clarify whether the 2013 Islamic Penal Codeallows children to be subjected to flogging, stoning and amputation and, if so, please provide detailed information on all cases of children subjected to these practices duringthe reporting period. Please also provide information on the application of article102 of the Codeand indicate whether girls can and have been sentenced to flogging for not wearing a hijab. Please provide information on the number of such cases, disaggregated by age.

With reference to article 158 (d) of the Islamic Penal Code,please clarify the meaning and scope of “normal and sharia-sanctioned boundaries”. Please also explain what is meant by“reasonable punishment or punishment for correction or protection purposes”,which is allowed under articles1173 and 1179 of the Civil Code. Please indicate the measures taken to repeal all legislation condoning violence against children, to address domestic violence, to promote positive and non-violent forms of discipline and to provide special protection to the children who are the most likely to be subjected to violence. Does the State party intend to repeal the provisions that prevent children to report and be protected from domestic violence such as articles146, 147, 160 and 161 of the Islamic Penal Code as well as article1130 of the Civil Code?

In the light of the obligation of the State party to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation, please indicate whether the State party intends to repeal article1108, which obliges wives, including married girls, to sexual submission and obedience to their husbands.

Please provide information on the measures taken to eliminate the harmful practice of child marriage, including forced marriage. Please comment on the information received according to which thousands of marriages of children below 13 years take place every year and that many girls commit suicide to escape such marriages. Please also provide detailed information on the implementation and interpretation of the criminalization of female genital mutilation especially in the provinces of Kurdistan, Western Azerbaijan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Lorestan and Hormozgan.

Please provide detailed information on the special social welfare centres for children deprived of a family environment mentioned in paragraph79 of the State party report. Please also explain the rules and criteria for placing children in such institutions andthe mechanisms in place to monitor the conditions, services and care provided to children in these institutions. Please furtherclarify if the placement of children in quasifamilies has been regulated and if so, what regulations apply to this type of placement.

Please provide detailed information on the application of article27 of the 2013 bill on the protection of children and adolescents with no guardian or an abusive guardian, which allows for the marriage between parents and adopted children, including on the number of such cases.

With reference to the Committee’s previous recommendations (CRC/C/15/Add.254, para. 54), please provide information on the measures taken for the full inclusion of children with disabilities into mainstream education.

Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to address adolescent health issues and to provide children with sexual and reproductive health counselling and services.

Please inform the Committee about the measures taken by the State party to ensure that all children, in particular married girls and children belonging to religious minorities, benefit from free and compulsory education, without any restrictions.Please clarify whether a girl can be denied education if she is pregnant or if her husband so wishes. Please also provide information on the measures taken to provide ethnic minorities in the State party with an opportunity to study in their native languages.

Please provide information on measures to address the situation of children living and working on the streets, to provide assistance and support to these children and to investigate allegations of police brutality against them.

Please indicate the measures taken to ensure that all refugee children, irrespective of whether they are born in or outsidethe Islamic Republic of Iran, are provided with a birth certificate and that no child is deprived of access to education, health and social services. Please indicate whether comprehensive registration of refugees including refugee children was conducted recently.Please also indicate if investigations are conducted intothe allegations of abuse and ill-treatment of refugee and asylum-seeking children by police and security forces. Please furtherprovide information on measures taken to protect children fromrefoulement.

Please inform the Committee whether the juvenile courts have exclusive competence to deal with all children in conflict with the law. With reference to the Committee’s previous recommendation, please also provide information on training of judges and other professionals in the juvenile justice system on children’s rights.

Part II

In this section the Committee invites the State party to briefly (three pages maximum) update the information presented in its report with regard to:

(a)New bills or laws, and their respective regulations;

(b)New institutions (and their mandates) or institutional reforms;

(c)Recently introduced policies, programmes and action plans and their scope and financing;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information, if available

Please provide consolidated information for the last three years on budget lines regarding children and social sectors, by indicating the percentage of each budget line in terms of the total national budget and gross national product, and geographic allocation.

Please provide, if available, updated statistical data (disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, geographic location and socioeconomic status) for the past three years on:

(a)Cases of abuse and violence against children, including all forms of corporal punishment, including as a punishment for a crime, as well as prosecution of the perpetrators and the sentences handed down in the State party;

(b)Cases of “honour killings” by fathers and grandfathers of children and the sanctions imposed on such crimes;

(c)Investigations of cases of sexual abuse and violence against children, including by family members such as husbands, and on prosecutions and penalties to perpetrators, and redress and compensation offered to the victims;

(d)Cases of arrests and detention of teachers and pupils, and the reasons for such measures, over the reporting period;

(e)Children working in the informal sector and children in street situations;

(f)Children in detention facilities and penitentiary institutions, including those on death row;

(g)Marriage of children below the age of 18 years;

(h)Marriage of children with adoptive parents;

(i)Stateless children or children born to Iranian mothers and foreign fathers;

(j)Children living in prison with their mothers;

(k)Asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children and children who have been deported to their countries of origin.

Please provide data disaggregated by age, sex, socioeconomic background, ethnic origin and geographical location regarding the situation of children deprived of a family environment, covering the past three years, on the number of children:

(a)Separated from their parents;

(b)Living in child-headed households;

(c)Placed in institutions;

(d)Placed with foster families;

(e)Adopted domestically or through inter-country adoptions.

Please provide data, disaggregated by age, sex, type of disability, ethnic origin and geographical location, for the past three years, on the number of children with disabilities:

(a)Living with their families;

(b)In institutions;

(c)Attending regular primary schools;

(d)Attending regular secondary schools;

(e)Attending special schools;

(f)Out of school;

(g)Abandoned by their families.

Please provide data, disaggregated inter alia by age, sex, socioeconomic background, geographical location and ethnic origin, for the past three years, on the:

(a)Enrolment and completion rates, in percentages, of the relevant age groups in pre-primary schools, in primary schools and in secondary schools;

(b)Number and percentage of dropouts and repetitions;

(c)Teacher-pupil ratio;

(d)Number of Baha’i children expelled from schools.

Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report which may have been outdated by more recent data collected or other new developments.

In addition, the State party may list areas affecting children that it considers to be of priority with regard to the implementation of the Convention.