There are currently no female ministers in the government’s cabinet. No provincial governors are
women. The Government recently appointed three women as “county governor” out of 430
positions across the country.14 The Government also appointed women to 13 out of 1,058 district
governors, mostly in small provinces across the country. Women currently occupy only 5.8
percent (16 out of 290) of parliamentary seats in the new parliament, who were elected in
February 2020.15 According to UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Iran ranks 181
out of the 190 countries reviewed for women’s participation in politics.16
In January 2021, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic
Republic of Iran (“Special Rapporteur”) stated that he was “alarmed at the continuing
harassment, arrest and imprisonment of women’s rights advocates, both women and men,
including those campaigning against compulsory veiling laws ” and reported cases of women’s
rights defenders being harassed, arbitrarily arrested, detained and prosecuted by Iranian
authorities.17 Notably, the Special Rapporteur condemned the “sentencing of three women
human rights defenders: Yasaman Aryani, Monireh Arabshahi and Mojgan Keshavarz.”18
During its last Universal Periodic Review (“UPR”) in November 2019, the Government of Iran
stated that the proposed Bill on Protection, Dignity and Security of Women against Violence
would be “aimed at criminalising new forms of assault, harassment and violations of the rights of
women and adopting preventive and support measures to stop violence against women.”19 In
January 2020, the UN Secretary General expressed concerns about the slow progress of the bill,
which has been under review since 2010 and 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.”20 In November 2019, Iran rejected States’
UPR recommendations asking for the criminalisation of domestic violence and marital rape.21
14
Executive rankings at the provincial level: 1) Governor, 2) County Governor, 3) District Governor, 4) Village President.
All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan – Geneva (KMMK-G) Association for the
Human Rights Of The Azerbaijani People In Iran (AHRAZ), Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC), OutRight
International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, Submission to the Human Rights Committee, 129th
session, 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf
16
UN Women, https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2021/women-inpolitics-2021-en.pdf?la=en&vs=1305
17
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2021,
https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2Fhrc%2F46%2F50&Language=E&DeviceType=Desktop
18
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020,
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_
Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf. See also Front Line Defenders, https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/location/iran
19
Universal Periodic Review, Iran, 2019, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/43/12
20
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. See also 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).
21
Recommendations 26.253, 26.254, Universal Periodic Review, Iran, 2019, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/43/12/Add.1
15
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