considered equal. Accordingly, when provisions of the Constitution are bound by the
“framework of Islamic Standards", in practice discrimination on the basis of gender is implicit.4
With regards to violence against women, international standards and the definition of violence
against women differ from views expressed in “Islam standards”, as interpreted by the IRI. One
of the consequences of Iran’s resistance to sign and ratify CEDAW is the failure to adopt the
internationally-accepted definition of VAW. There are many instances that are considered as
violence by international standards, but are not considered so according to Islam or the laws of
the IRI. For example, verbal violence and marital rape are not recognized as violence in the laws
of the IRI. Nevertheless, in the Civil Code5 and Islamic Penal Code of the IRI, there are several
articles that criminalise some aspects of violence against women, including rape6 and domestic
violence (physical harm)7.
During its last Universal Periodic Review (November 2019), the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Iran stated that the Act on Protection, Dignity and Security of Women against
Violence, will be “aimed at criminalizing new forms of assault, harassment and violations of the
rights of women and adopting preventive and support measures to stop violence against
women.”8 In January 2020, the UN Secretary General expressed concerns about the slow
progress of the bill, which has been under review since 20109 and as of February 2021 is under
the review of the Iranian Parliament.10 The draft bill will then need to be vetted by the Guardian
Council.
The Secretary General also noted that “critical articles were reportedly removed from the initial
proposal of the Executive, including provisions protecting women from various forms
of violence and criminalizing domestic violence.”1112 As of early February 2021, the available
draft of the law13 suggests that the text may be insufficient to protect women in Iran from
discriminations and violence. Even though the draft law may bring positive developments, it will
4
Gender inequalities, such as inequality in the age of criminal responsibility (articles 140, 146 and 147 of the IPC), inequality in
the share of inheritance (articles 861 to 948 of the Civil Code), inequality in the age of marriage (article 1041 of the Civil Code),
inequality in the rights of husband and wife in marriage (articles 1102 to 1119 and 1133 to 1142 of the Civil Code), inequality in
the custody of children (articles 1169 to 1173 of the Civil Code), inequality in the right to work (article 1117 of the Civil Code),
inequality in the validity of testimony in court (articles 174 to 200 of the IPC), inequality in blood money (articles 549 to 575 of
the IPC), and inequality in the share of employment, are among the inequalities that are based on gender in Iranian law.
5
Article 1115 of the CPC
6
Article 224 of the IPC
7
Article 614 of the fifth book of the IPC
8
Universal Periodic Review, Iran, 2019, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/43/12
9
Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights, Centre for Supporters of Human Rights and Minority Rights Group International
September 2019, https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1203136/download
10
New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/world/middleeast/iran-sexual-violence-metoo-women.html
11
Report of the Secretary General, Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2020,
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_SecretaryGeneral_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4320.pdf
12
See Radio Farda https://en.radiofarda.com/a/new-watered-down-draft-law-on-violence-against-women-iniran/30173089.html ;
and ISNA www.isna.ir/news/98071612729/ (in Farsi).
13
https://shenasname.ir/laws/7023
2