reports of harassment, imprisonment and mistreatment in prisons of HRDs and the increasing pressure faced by their families.35 Despite the existence of several mechanisms that ostensibly accept complaints regarding violations of citizens' rights, such as the Parliament’s Article 90 Commission (established under Article 90 of the Constitution, offering a mechanism to citizens to file complaints against any of the three branches of power) and the Oversight Bodies for the exercise of Citizenship Rights in the country's provincial courts, there is no evidence to suggest that complaints to these bodies are independently reviewed and investigated.36 Additionally, as the State relies on the Iranian legal framework to repress the work of HRDs, access to justice is particularly limited. Such State repression also targets women’s rights defenders, notably those peacefully advocating against the compulsory veiling laws.37 38 In January 2021, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran 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.39 The Special Rapporteur notably condemned the “sentencing of three women human rights defenders: Yasaman Aryani, Monireh Arabshahi and Mojgan Keshavarz.”40 In light of the above, the Islamic Republic of Iran has not implemented the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders41 in order to ensure that women human rights defenders are able to carry out their work with full autonomy and without being subjected to retaliation by the State or other actors. 35 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 36 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee, Abdorrahman Center, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC), Impact Iran and Human Rights Activists in Iran, 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCCPR%2fICS%2fIRN%2f42313 &Lang=en 37 Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code 2013, https://iranhrdc.org/islamic-penal-code-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-book-five/ 38 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 39 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 40 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 41 https://ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/RightAndResponsibility.aspx 4