content of such trainings and whether they contained sessions on the harmful effects of early
marriage on the physical and mental health and well-being of girls.
Despite various bills currently being reviewed which seek to prohibit early marriage in the
Islamic Republic of Iran, girls and boys as young as 9 and 15 lunar years respectively can still
get married under Iranian legislation, as of January 2021. In 2016, the Committee on the Rights
of the Child stated that the legal age of marriage in the Islamic Republic of Iran “gravely violated
rights under the Convention [on the Rights of the Child] and placed children, in particular girls,
at risk of forced, early and temporary marriages, with irreversible consequences on their physical
and mental health and development.”19 Despite the work of the NBCRC, awareness-raising
efforts in local communities and the trainings received by judges, judicial officers and
administrative staff, early marriage remains a widespread practice in the country, 20 21 22
suggesting that governmental efforts are inadequate and/or insufficient.
Recommendation Status:
This recommendation has NOT been implemented.
19
CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4, para. 27-28 https://undocs.org/en/CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4
Report of the Secretary General, Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2020, para 37
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_SecretaryGeneral_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4320.pdf
21
See www.sabteahval.ir/avej/tab-1499.aspx (in Farsi)
22
See Human Rights Activists News Agency: https://www.en-hrana.org/?s=child+marriage
20
3