of Iran, Es’haq Jahangiri, on June 3rd, 2020. Until this date, Article 976 of the Iranian Civil Code
of 2015 mandated that only children born of Iranian fathers would be granted citizenship. The
new law was introduced in 2015 in Parliament, yet it was sent back to this body of government
twice for amendment before it was approved by the Guardian Council on October 2nd, 2019.4
There aren’t any statistical figures to demonstrate the effectiveness of the law5, since it has only
been put into circulation fairly recently. Regardless, it is expected to contribute to granting
citizenship to around 500,000 children (mostly children of Afghan refugees and Iranian women)
who had, until now, been deprived of a legal avenue for obtaining an Iranian birth certificate.
B. Provide information on the number of children born to Iranian mothers who have
been naturalised, in its next periodic report
Iran’s next report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child is due on August, 11th 2021.
Recommendation Status:
This recommendation has been PARTIALLY implemented.
4
5
ISNA
Ibid.
2