Concluding Observations Committee on the Rights of the Child CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4 para
88(a)
Full recommendation:
Develop a comprehensive strategy to protect children in street situations and reduce their
number, including identifying the underlying causes, such as poverty, family violence, migration,
and lack of access to education, with the aim of preventing and reducing this phenomenon.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
In its 2019 National Report to the Universal Periodic Review, the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Iran stated that “on the basis of the 6th Development Plan Act, the Government is
obliged to increase protection of […] street children (Article 78), and to organise and reduce
street children and child laborers. »2
In its General Comment No.21 on children in street situations, the Committee on the Rights of
the Child stipulates that States should “introduce or review an act on child protection or children
based on a child rights approach and that specifically addresses children in street situations.” 3 In
June 2020 the Iranian Guardian Council passed a legislation that, among other provisions aimed
at protecting children, requires social workers from the State Welfare Organisation to promptly
investigate the children in situation of “extreme danger” from abuse, exploitation, or being out of
school,4 5 situations in which most of street children are. However, the law does not specifically
address children in street situations. There is no readily available information that might indicate
the number of cases of complaints of violence against children that have been either addressed,
promptly investigated or adequately adjudicated by the State Welfare Organisation.
According to official estimates, there are about 60,000 children living in the streets in the Islamic
Republic of Iran, 6 although non-governmental organisations (NGOs) estimated the number to be
close to 200,000 and increasing.7 In 2014, the head of social pathologies’ office at the Ministry
of Labor reportedly stated that 45% of street children were between the ages of 10 and 14.8
1
CRC.19.1.S.1; CRC.20.1.S.1; CRC.20.2.S.1; CCPR.24.1.S.1
CRC.19.1.P.1; CRC.19.1.P.3;CRC.19.2.P.1; CRC.19.2.P.2; CRC.20.2.P.2; CCPR.24.1.P.1
CRC.19.1.O.4; CRC.19.2.O.1; CRC.19.2.O.3; CRC.20.1.O.1; CRC.20.2.O.1; CRC.20.3.O.2
2
National Report, UPR 2019, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1
3
General Comment No.21 on children in street situations, Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/GC/21,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/GC/21&Lang=en
4
Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/23/iran-child-protection-law-positive-insufficient
5
https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/legal_draft/state/1055680
6
U.S. State Department Human Rights Report 2019, Iran, https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rightspractices/iran/
7
Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://www.iranhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/Days-to-remember-low.pdf
8
NGO joint submission, Impact Iran, Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2015
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19809_E.pdf
1