Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
A/HRC/40/67 para 75(f)
Full recommendation:
Pending implementation of the aforementioned recommendations, and without prejudice to the
binding obligation enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to not sentence children to death and to not execute child
offenders, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the judiciary: (f) Require that all those who
deal with children in the criminal justice system, especially judges, prosecutors, medical
examiners, police interrogators and other law enforcement professionals, undergo specialist,
ongoing and systematic training on the rights of the child. Such training should inform
participants about how to take into account the child’s physical, psychological, mental and
social development in a manner consistent with the obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran
under international human rights law.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
The Iranian legal framework requires regular trainings for judges and judicial officers, including
on the rights of the child. Provincial justice chiefs are responsible for supervising and following
up on these training. In its National Report to the Universal Periodic Review in 2019, the Islamic
Republic of Iran stated that it held “Human rights training for judges, judicial officers and
administrative staff on the rights of the child” as well as “training courses on citizenship rights
for judges, staff and judicial officers” and “at three levels of inspectors, staff and directors of the
police”.2
However, there is no readily available information indicating the content of such trainings and
whether they inform participants about how to take into account the child’s physical,
psychological, mental and social development in a manner consistent with the obligations of the
Islamic Republic of Iran under international human rights law.
The prohibition on the imposition of the death penalty on children is widely considered to be jus
cogens under international law and represents a violation of Articles 6(5) of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and 37(a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Human Rights Committee has explicitly stipulated that the death penalty cannot be imposed
if it cannot be proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the accused was 18 or older at the time of
the offence.3 Iranian authorities executed five child offenders in 2017, six in 2018 and four in
1
CRC.19.2.S.2 ; CRC. 6.2.P.3; CRC.19.2.P.2
National Report, Islamic Republic of Iran, UPR, 2019, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1
3
UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), General comment no. 36, Article 6 (Right to Life), 3 September
2019, CCPR/C/GC/35, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5e5e75e04.html
2
1