The Iranian Government established a National Body for the Convention of the Rights of the Child
(NBCRC), which has the responsibility “to set up plans and programs to promote the rights of the
child and the respect of their character” and to monitor and assess the implementation of the rights
of children in the Islamic Republic of Iran.25 The body is headed by the Minister of Justice, who
appoints most of its members and officers, and includes three NGO representatives among its 23
members.26 During the country’s 2016 CRC review, the National Body listed its main
achievements, notably the holding of “specialised meetings on the role of religious leaders in
preventing violence against children”, including early and forced marriage. 27 The National Body
also listed the achievements of its working groups, notably its Legal and Judiciary working group,
which conducted “analyses of the ways to end early marriage”, and its Support and Coordination
working group which carried out an “analysis of the different dimensions of supporting children
who are deprived of education and are victims of early marriage”. 28 There is no readily available
information that might indicate whether these achievements have been impactful.
In its national report to the Universal Periodic Review in 2019, the Islamic Republic of Iran stated
that it carried out “human rights training for judges, judicial officers and administrative staff on
the rights of the child”.29 However, there is no readily available information on the content of such
trainings and whether they contained sessions on the harmful effects of early marriage on the
physical and mental health and well-being of girls.
Despite various bills currently being reviewed which seek to prohibit early marriage in the Islamic
Republic of Iran, girls and boys as young as 9 and 15 lunar years respectively can still get married
under Iranian legislation, as of January 2021. In 2016, the Committee on the Rights of the Child
stated that the legal age of marriage in the Islamic Republic of Iran “gravely violated rights under
the Convention [on the Rights of the Child] and placed children, in particular girls, at risk of forced,
early and temporary marriages, with irreversible consequences on their physical and mental health
and development.”30 Despite the work of the NBCRC, awareness-raising efforts in local
communities and the trainings received by judges, judicial officers and administrative staff, early
marriage remains a widespread practice in the country, 31 32 33 suggesting that governmental efforts
are inadequate and/or insufficient.
25
Article 2 National Body for the Convention on the Rights of the Child Bylaws
Justice for Iran, submission to the CRC, 2015,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19746_E.pdf
27
The Supplementary Response of the (NBCRC) regarding the Concluding Observation on the Combined third and fourth
periodic reports of the Committee on the Rights of the Child for the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2016,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCRC%2fCOB%2fIRN%2f23480
&Lang=en
28
Ibid.
29
National report, Islamic Republic of Iran, UPR 2019, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1
30
CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4, para. 27-28 https://undocs.org/en/CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4
31
Report of the Secretary General, Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2020, para 37
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_SecretaryGeneral_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4320.pdf
32
See www.sabteahval.ir/avej/tab-1499.aspx (in Farsi)
33
See Human Rights Activists News Agency: https://www.en-hrana.org/?s=child+marriage
26
3