protection when they run away from a forced marriage and girls have been reportedly brought
back to their parents. 35
The Iranian Government established a National Body for the Convention of the Rights of the
Child, which has the responsibility “to set up plans and programs to promote the child rights
and respect to their character” and to monitor and assess the implementation of child rights in
the Islamic Republic of Iran.36 The body is headed by the Minister of Justice, who appoints
most of its members and officers, and includes 3 NGO representatives among its 23
members.37 During the country’s 2016 CRC review, The National Body listed its main
achievements, notably the organization of “specialized meetings on the role of religious
leaders in preventing violence against children”, including early and forced marriage. 38 The
National Body also listed the achievements of its working groups, notably its Legal and
Judiciary working group, which did “analyses of the ways to end early marriage”, and its
Support and Coordination working group which did “analysis of different dimensions of
supporting children who are deprived from education and are victims of early marriage”. 39
There is no readily available information that might indicate whether these achievements have
been impactful.
In 2016, the Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended the Islamic Republic of Iran
to “expeditiously establish” a specific mechanism for monitoring children’s rights that was
able to receive, investigate and address complaints by children in a child-sensitive manner,40
which could include complaints of early and forced marriage. As of today, there is no readily
available official information that might indicate the creation of such mechanism.
The current legal framework of the Islamic Republic of Iran, added to the absence of a
mechanism to investigate and address complaints of forced marriage, cannot guarantee that
marriage can be entered into only with the free consent of the intending spouses.
Recommendation Status:
This recommendation has NOT been implemented.
35
Suuntaus Project, Finnish Immigration Service- Country Information Service, ‘Violence against women and honour-related
violence in Iran’, 26 June 2015, http://www.migri.fi/download/61597_Suuntausraportti_VakivaltaIran_finalFINAL_kaannosversio_EN.pdf?96fa691925bfd288
36
Article 2 National Body for the Convention on the Rights of the Child Bylaws
37
Justice for Iran, submission to the CRC, 2015,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19746_E.pdf
38
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%2f23
480&Lang=en
39
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%2f23
480&Lang=en
40
CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4, para. 22 https://undocs.org/en/CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4
4