Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences E/CN.4/2006/61/Add.3 para 74 (h) Full recommendation: To prioritise the elimination of violence against women as a public policy issue and to prevent, investigate and punish all acts of violence against women, whether perpetrated by private or State actors, it is recommended that the Government: Strengthen the capacity of the Centre for Women’s Participation (financially and politically) to develop policies and projects to address violence against women, to support research on the causes and consequences of violence against women, including suicides, and to effectively undertake its important advisory role in directing State policy and action concerning violence against women. Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1 The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has taken several steps to implement this recommendation in the past few years. Among these steps is the promotion of the "Women's Participation Center" to the "Vice Presidency", which has a high status in terms of political and legal structure.2 During the last 5 years, the budget of this institution has increased from 12.81 billion Tomans in year 1395 of the Persian calendar (2016-2017), to 25.01 billion Tomans in 1399 (2020 -2021). However, the budget of this institution, when compared with the overall budget of Iran, constitutes a very small share (0.00000053% of the total budget in year 1399).3 In recent years, the Center has published its annual performance report, listing the actions taken undertaken through its programs.4 Despite the alleged activities listed in such reports, the text of the studies and research it conducts is not available to the public for verification by experts and non-governmental organizations. A number of non-governmental organizations in Iran question the report on the activities of the center and have spoken about the lack of possibility to verify this information.5 Although in recent years there have been reports of the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between this institution in the presidency, and various ministries, so far, no accurate statistical report has been published on the impact of this memorandum on improving the situation of women in Iran.6 1 CCPR.3.1.S.1; CCPR.7.1.S.1; CCPR.3.1.P.1; CCPR.3.1.P.3; CCPR.7.1.O.3; CCPR.3.1.O.4 https://www.ilna.news/fa/tiny/news-150679 3 https://iranbudget.org/ 4 http://women.gov.ir/fa/news/4114/ and http://women.gov.ir/fa/news/6608/ and https://www.yjc.ir/fa/news/4969785/ 5 https://www.mehrnews.com/news/4900182/ 6 http://women.gov.ir/fa/news/8467/ and https://www.yjc.ir/00U3hk and www.irna.ir/news/83860755/ 2 1

Select target paragraph3