Concluding Observations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights E/C.12/IRN/CO/2 para 19 Full recommendation The Committee recommends that the State party take urgent and effective steps to address the very high number of children living and/or working in the street, address the root causes of the phenomenon, and provide all street children with access to health services and education. Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators A. The State Party should take urgent and effective steps to address the very high number of children and/or working in the street The Iranian legal framework contains discriminatory provisions against “vagrant” individuals, which may include children living and/or working in the street. 1 Under the Criminal Code of Procedure (2015), a crime can be considered “evident” -meaning that no warrant is required to arrest the accused of such crime- notably when “the accused is a vagrant and has a negative reputation in the area in question”.2 Such provision may put street children at risk of arbitrary arrests. 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 organize and reduce street children and child laborers. »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 Organization 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. In its General Comment No.21 on children in street situations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child stipulates that States should “abolish where appropriate offences that criminalize and disproportionately affect children in street situations, such as […] vagrancy” and 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.” 6 According to official estimates, there are about 60,000 children living in the streets in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 7 although non-governmental organizations estimated the number to 1 For instance, under Article 177 of the Islamic Penal Code, a vagrant cannot be considered as a witness. Islamic Penal Code (2013), English translation, Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre, https://iranhrdc.org/english-translation-of-books-i-iiof-the-new-islamic-penal-code/ 2 Criminal Code of Procedure (2015), as referenced by Amnesty International in https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF 3 National Report, UPR 2019, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1 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 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 7 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report 2019, Iran, https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rightspractices/iran/ 1

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