Concluding Observations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
E/C.12/IRN/CO/2 para 25
Full recommendation
The Committee recommends that the State party take urgent steps to increase the allocation of
public funds to improve the health situation of inhabitants of the province of Sistan and
Baluchestan, in particular focusing on the health infrastructure and the provision of adequate
water and sanitation.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
Article 3 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran provides that the Government of
Iran “is obliged to use all of its resources” in a number of areas including “the removal of all
forms of depravation in the areas of nutrition, housing, labor and health”. Article 29 of the
Constitution provides for the right to health and medical treatments for all. Article 43 states
that the economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be based on a number of criteria,
including “providing the essential needs” such as health.2
Despite these legal guarantees, reports from the U.N. Secretary General and the Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic of Iran have regularly raised the
acute level of poverty and underdevelopment of the Sistan and Baluchestan province.3 The
province, predominantly inhabited by the ethnic Baluchi population, is considered one of the
most impoverished provinces in the country. 4 5 6 The province is notably characterized by
having the highest infant mortality rates in the country7, and having an estimated two-thirds of
its population lacking access to clean drinking water. 8 9 Sistan and Baluchestan has also
reportedly a majority of its population living in rural areas, 10 which often lack access to
health infrastructures and adequate water and sanitation compared to urban areas in the
Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2016, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed
1
ESCR.12.1.S.1; ESCR.12.1.P.1; ESCR.12.1.P.3; ESCR.12.2.P.1; ESCR.12.1.O.1; ESCR.12.2.O.1
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, English Translation, https://irandataportal.syr.edu/wpcontent/uploads/constitution-english-1368.pdf
3
Report of the UN Secretary General on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, September 2016,
https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2FRES%2F71%2F374&Language=F&DeviceType=Desktop
4
Report of the UN Secretary General on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, September 2016,
https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2FRES%2F71%2F374&Language=F&DeviceType=Desktop
5
Minority Rights Group https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Rights-Denied-Violations-against-ethnicand-religious-minorities-in-Iran.pdf
6
Iran Wire, https://iranwire.com/en/features/5523
7
Minority Rights Group International; Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights; Centre for Supporters of Human Rights.
Submission 14, para. 33. UPR 2019
https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2FHRC%2FWG.6%2F34%2FIRN%2F3&Language=E&DeviceType=D
esktop
8
Iran Labour News Agency ‘70 percent of Sistan- Baluchestan people are living under poverty line (Persian),’ 15 November
2015
9
Minority Rights Group International; Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights; Centre for Supporters of Human Rights.
Submission 14, para. 33. UPR 2019
https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2FHRC%2FWG.6%2F34%2FIRN%2F3&Language=E&DeviceType=D
esktop
10
Iran Wire, https://iranwire.com/en/features/5523
2
1