the teaching of their literature at schools, alongside the Persian language…”26 However, the restrictive language of Article 15 does not fully protect the right of minorities to learn and teach in their mother tongue. Although Article 101 of the Charter on Citizens’ Rights recognises the right of citizens to learn, use and teach their own local language and dialect,27 the Charter is not legally binding. Despite these restricted legal guarantees, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran raised concerns about reports of Kurdish, Ahwazi Arab and Azerbaijani-Turk (or Azeri-Turk) lacking access to education in their mother tongues. 28 29 These concerns were echoed by the U.N Secretary General, 30 31 32 who noted that reports indicating that members of ethno-linguistic minorities, including the Azeri community as well as Arabs, were being denied the opportunity to teach their language in schools. 33 The reported Stateimposed ban on Azeri-Turkish being taught in school would go some way in explaining such struggle. 34 Additionally, teachers need to obtain a state-issued permit to be able to teach the Kurdish language.35 Kurdish language teachers are reportedly persecuted.36 In 2016, reportedly up to 40,000 Ahwazi Arab children were denied access to education for failing the Farsi language proficiency test, although Farsi is their second language.37 A lack of teaching in a child’s mother tongue has reportedly been causing high school dropout and illiteracy rates, notably among Azeri38 and Ahwazi Arab children.39 There is no readily available information that might indicate the existence of governmental measures and/or policies aiming at providing access to education based on the national curriculum in the native languages of ethnic minorities, in particular in Azeri, Kurdish, Arabic and other languages. In 2019, Rezvan Hakim Zadeh, deputy of the regime’s elementary 26 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, English translation, https://irandataportal.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/constitutionenglish-1368.pdf 27 Charter on Citizens’ Rights, English translation, http://president.ir/en/96865 28 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 29 See more: Association for the human rights of the Azerbaijani people in Iran, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19735_E.pdf 30 IRNA News, www.irna.ir/news/83404283/ (in Farsi). 31 Report of the U.N. Secretary General, January 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 32 Ibid. 33 Report of the U.N. Secretary General, August 2019, https://undocs.org/en/A/74/273 34 Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://iranhumanrights.org/2019/03/irans-intelligence-ministry-slaps-azeri-rights-activistwith-new-charges-claim-hes-organizing-protests-from-prison/ 35 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, July 2019, https://undocs.org/A/74/188 36 Ibid. 37 UNPO, https://unpo.org/article/19590 38 Association for the human rights of the Azerbaijani people in Iran, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19735_E.pdf 39 Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2013/10/khuzestan-teachers/ 5