adolescents, are blocked in Iran, as are select pages of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.8 In the
current communications environment in Iran as elsewhere, Internet access constitutes a vital
platform for expression for children, as well as a source of information about the news, culture,
and society they live in. Additionally, social media platforms serve as a means of association for
children where they form groups, discussions, and organise activities with peers.
Websites in Persian and other languages for human rights organisations – including many that
report and advocate for the rights of children such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International, ARTICLE 19, and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran – are also
blocked. As such, children’s access to information about their human rights is greatly curtailed.
Websites belonging to some minority religious groups, including Christians, Baha’is, and Sufi
Muslims are also blocked, undermining children’s freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, local monitors identified
over 40,000 sites blocked by authorities and ISPs in just the ten months before February 2014.9
The Campaign’s research has shown that government Internet controls and censorship are
becoming simultaneously more pervasive and harder to detect.10
Authorities have also started limiting some smart phone chat and text applications, such as
WeChat, understood to be popular among adolescents.11 The state blocks social networking
platforms including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google. Blog-hosting platforms like
WordPress, Blogspot, and Blogger are also blocked. The messaging app Telegram was the most
widely used messaging app in Iran by 2017, with an estimated 40 million monthly users. On
December 31, 2017, the government blocked Instagram and Telegram after the spread of
political unrest and street protests. The service was later unblocked in January 2018, but on April
30, a Media Court prosecutor issued an order to filter Telegram. Subsequently access to the
platform was blocked by Internet Service Providers and mobile operator.12
Censorship of the news media also greatly undermines the right of children and adolescents to
access information, particularly related to social and political issues. ARTICLE 19 findings show
that, despite a formal prohibition of censorship under Iranian law,13 the Islamic Republic News
Agency (IRNA), Iran’s official news agency, which is directly subordinate to the government,
monitors all articles written by journalists before they are published to ensure their compliance
with IRNA’s five governing principles.14 These principles are: 1) preservation of state secrets
and national security, 2) upholding public morality, 3) strengthening linguistic and religious
solidarity, 4) maintaining human dignity, and 5) not publishing information prohibited by law.
8
Ibid.
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Internet in Chains: the Front Line of State Repression in Iran, (November
2014)
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
12
TechCrunch
13
ARTICLE 19 and PEN International, Joint Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
(15 March 2014)
14
Ibid.
9
2