associations and cooperation” as well as “entrepreneurship development for women”. 52 Out of the 41 million Iranian female population,53 the Government reported that 4,000 are “active female entrepreneurs”.54 According to the Government, women’s economic participation rate “has risen from 12.4% in 2013 to 16.4% in 2018”.55 Other governmental statistics published in 2018 reportedly indicated that female economic participation stood at 15.9%.56 Regardless, such rates remain some of the lowest in the world. In the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report in 2017, Iran was ranked 140 out of 144 countries assessed.57 Similarly, a World Bank study ranked Iran fourth lowest in its 2019 Women, Business and the Law index.58 Unemployment is more prevalent among women in Iran compared to men. 59 Even though the Islamic Republic of Iran has not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discriminations Against Women, the Islamic Republic of Iran is bound by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Children. In light of the above, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has not amended its laws that violate the rights of women or that undermine their equal and full enjoyment of civil, political, social and economic rights, including the rights to freedom of movement and work and the right to be free from discrimination, especially in the workplace. B. Draft legislation currently under consideration that appears to infringe on these rights and that may incite violence against women should be reconsidered as a means of addressing national and international concern. 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, currently under governmental review, 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.”60 However, in January 2020, the U.N. Secretary General expressed concerns about the slow progress of the bill, which has been under review 52 UPR 2019, National Report, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1 World Bank, 2019, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL.FE.IN?locations=IR 54 UPR 2019, National Report, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1 55 UPR 2019, National Report, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1 56 Statistical Centre of Iran, Natayej-e-Amar giri-ye- nirou-ye-kaar, Paeiz-e-1396 [Results of the census on workforce, Autumn of 1396], https://bit.ly/330NG8t 57 World Economic Forum, the Global Gender Gap Report 2017. Available from: <http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gapreport-2017/dataexplorer/#economy=IRN > 58 World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2019: A Decade of Reform, May 2019, p.9 59 Statistics Center of Iran <https://www.amar.org.ir/Portals/1/releases/lfs/LFS_1397.pdf> 60 Universal Periodic Review, Iran, 2019, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/43/12 53 6