In a number of reported cases, transgender individuals arrested on such charges have been
detained, prosecuted and sentenced to flogging.21 Due to the lack of official reporting and
victims’ fear of social stigma, the number of cases of abuses and discriminations against
individuals on the grounds of their sexual orientation and gender identity is likely much higher
than those reported by human rights organizations.22 23
There is, as of now, no evidence that the Iranian government is currently considering repealing
or amending aforementioned laws that result or could result in discrimination, prosecution and
punishment of people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has not ensured the protection of the rights of LGBT and intersex
individuals by repealing laws that punish people based on their sexual orientation and gender
identity.
B. The Special Rapporteur calls on the Government to ensure the protection of the
rights of LGBT and intersex individuals by enacting effective antidiscrimination laws
Article 3 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran stipulates that the government “has
the duty of directing all its resources” to, among other goals, “the abolition of all forms of
undesirable discrimination and the provision of equitable opportunities for all, in both the
material and intellectual spheres”.24 Article 19 of the Constitution stipulates that all people of
Iran enjoy equal rights “whatever the ethnic group of tribe” and that “color, race, language and
the like, do not bestow any privilege”.25 Sexual orientation and gender identity are omitted as
protected characteristics. Additionally, Article 20 states that all citizens enjoy all “human,
political, economic, social and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic criteria”. As same sex
relations are criminalized under the Iranian ‘Islamic Penal Code’,26 the “Islamic criteria”
condition restricts the enjoyment of human rights for the LGBT community, including the right
to work, to social security, to health and education.
The Iranian states’ behaviour towards lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals has been hostile and
Iranian authorities publicly criticize the country’s lesbian, gay and bisexual community. In 2013,
Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary of Iran’s high council for human rights said that
21
Outright International, 2016, https://outrightinternational.org/sites/default/files/OutRightTransReport.pdf
Small Media, 2018, https://smallmedia.org.uk/media/projects/files/BreakingTheSilence_2018.pdf
23
Iranian Lesbian & Transgender Network (6Rang), 2015,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19808_E.pdf
24
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, English translation, https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b56710.html
25
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, English translation, https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b56710.html
26
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/denied-identity-human-rights-abuses-against-irans-lgbtcommunity/#2
22
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