Concluding observations Committee on the Rights of the Child CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4 para
92(g)
Full recommendation:
In cases where detention is unavoidable, ensure that the children are not detained together with
adults and that detention conditions are compliant with international standards, including with
regard to access to education and health services.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
In Iran’s prison system, boys under the age of 18 are detained separately from adults.2 In most
provinces’ capitals, “Rehabilitation and Training Centers” have been established for convicted
juvenile offenders.3 However, as a consequence of procedural limitations, children in smaller
cities are reportedly often not afforded separation from adults.4 These children are transferred by
authorities to centers in larger cities,5 but those transfers only occur after investigations are
conducted in the locality of the alleged crime, thus, children and adults are jailed together during
initial detentions.6 The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic
Republic of Iran also received reports of child detainees who shared cells with adult detainees
due to overcrowding.7 Similarly, NGO reports of the November 2019 protests and their
aftermath indicated that in some cases children were being detained alongside adults, notably due
to the overcrowding of juvenile correctional facilities.8 9 10 Reports also indicate that detained
girls are not separated from adults, with the exception of the detention center in Tehran 11.
1
CRC.37.3.S.1; CRC.37.3.S.2
CRC.37.3.P.1;
CRC.37.3.O.1; CRC.37.3.O.3
2
Iran’s Prison Law (2005), art. 17, available at: http://www.prisons.ir/index.php?Module=SMMPageMaster&SMMOp=View&PageId=27
3
For a history of “Rehabilitation and Training Centers” in Iran, please see: http://www.madadkar.org/preven- tion-of-socialdamage/history-correcting-and-training-centers.html
4
An eyewitness account published by the prison administration authorities describes how the juveniles at the “Re- habilitation
and Training Centers” who physically grow in size are transferred to adult prisons regardless of their age:
http://www.kermanprisons.ir/index.php?Module=SMMNewsAgency&SMMOp=View&SMM_CMD=&PageId=2005
5
Some of the issues at the Juvenile Prisons are discussed in great detail by the former head of “Rehabilitation and Training
Centers,” available at: http://www.khabaronline.ir/detail/304921/society/social-damage
6
In a press interview published on June 3, 2014, the public prosecutor of Semnan Province tacitly accepted the existing
shortcomings in handling the interrogation of juvenile prisoners, and promised new measures under the new penal code to better
protect juvenile detainees during interrogation and trial. See, http://www.hemayat.net/detail/ News/2260
7
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, July 2020,
https://undocs.org/A/75/213
8
Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/2891/2020/en/
9
Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://iranhumanrights.org/2020/02/detained-protestors-in-iran-beaten-tortured-forced-toconfess/
10
See more: Joint alternative report by civil society organizations on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child by the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2015,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19809_E.pdf
11
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center consultation with Iranian lawyer Hossein Raeesi, February 2015
1