Concluding Observations Committee on the Rights of the Child CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4 para
28
Full recommendation:
The Committee urges the State party to revise, as a matter of urgency and priority, its legislation
in order to ensure that all persons below the age of 18 years, without exceptions, are considered
as children and are provided with all the rights under the Convention. The Committee also urges
the State party to further increase the minimum age for marriage for both girls and boys to 18
years, and to take all necessary measures to eliminate child marriages in line with the State
party’s obligations under the Convention.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
A. Ensure that all persons below the age of 18 years, without exceptions, are considered
as children and are provided with all the rights under the Convention
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its first article, defines children as
individuals who have yet to reach the age of eighteen.2 Despite this definition, there is still
ambiguity as to who can be considered a child in Iran. The Islamic Penal Code (2013)3
establishes the age of criminal responsibility at 9 lunar years for girls and 15 lunar years for
boys.4 However, the age of responsibility for ta’zir crimes (crimes for which fixed penalties are
not provided in Islamic law giving the judge discretion as to the sentence imposed) is 18 years
for all children. In these cases, convicted children are sentenced to correctional measures. In
contrast, criminal responsibility for crimes punishable by hudud (punishments fixed by God) or
qisas (punishment or retribution in kind), which carry mandatory punishments such as death, is
maintained at the age of “maturity” that is 9 and 15 lunar years for girls and boys respectively.
Reportedly, four convicted child offenders were executed in 2019 in the Islamic Republic of
Iran.5
Despite the existence of several mechanisms that ostensibly accept complaints regarding
violations of citizens' rights, such as the Parliament’s Article 90 Commission (based on Article
90 of the Constitution, offering a mechanism for citizens to file complaints against any of the
three branches of power) and the Oversight Bodies for the exercise of Citizenship Rights in the
country's provincial courts, there is no evidence to suggest that complaints to these bodies are
1
CRC.19.1.S.1 ; CRC.19.1.S.2; CRC.37.1.S.2 CRC.19.1.P.1; CRC.37.1.P.1
CCPR.23.3.P.1 CCPR.3.1.O.2 CRC.37.1.O.1
2
OHCHR, Convention of the Rights of the Child, Article 1: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx
3
Article 146 and 147, Islamic Penal Code (2013), English translation, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center,
https://iranhrdc.org/english-translation-of-books-i-ii-of-the-new-islamic-penal-code/
4
Article 1210, note 1
5
https://www.ecpm.org/wp-content/uploads/Rapport-iran-2020-gb-070420-WEB.pdf
1