Impact Iran

He encourages the Government to amend laws that continue to undermine women’s full enjoyment of civil political, social, and economic rights, including rights in family law, the right to equal access to education and the right to work. Draft legislation currently under consideration that appears to infringe on these rights raises serious concern, and should be reconsidered.

End the policy of prohibiting or severely limiting women's attendance at public sporting events, and bring both laws and policies protecting women's rights into compliance with international standards;

The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government and Parliament: Ensure that human rights defenders, including women human rights defenders, and lawyers and journalists are not threatened with or subjected to intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrest, deprivation of liberty or other arbitrary sanction, and release all those detained in connection with their work;

The Special Rapporteur calls on the Government to ratify the Convention on the elimination of discrimination against women, to amend and repeal all laws which discriminate women and girls and to refrain from adopting laws and measures which would further undermine the empowerment of women and their participation into the labour force. She urges the Government to ensure women and girls' freedom of movement and guarantee their fundamental right to physical education, physical activity and sport. Laws and regulations that require women and girls to observe the Islamic dress code infringe their right to have, adopt and profess or not a religion or belief and do not take into account the various religious components of the Iranian society. These laws should be reviewed and the Government should respect the right of anyone to privacy and ensure that security forces refrain from acting as moral guardians of the citizens.

Despite some positive amendments in 2013, the Islamic Penal Code continues to justify serious human rights violations perpetrated by government officials, including members of the judiciary. Many provisions in the penal code violate the country's international human rights obligations by criminalizing the peaceful exercise of fundamental rights or other acts that are not internationally recognized as crimes. The penal code also continues to discriminate against girls, women and religious minorities. The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to consider additional reforms to the penal code in line with the country's international legal obligations.

Calls on the Government to amend laws that violate the rights of women, or that undermine their full enjoyment of civil political, social, and economic rights, including the right work and to freedom from discrimination, especially in education and the workplace. Draft legislation currently under consideration that appears to infringe on these rights raises serious concern, and should be reconsidered.

Examine and address those laws that contravene its international obligation to eliminate all forms of discrimination in law and practice. These include those laws and policies that undermine gender equality and women's rights, and that discriminate against religious and ethnic minorities, and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in the country.

The Special Rapporteur calls on the Government to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, to repeal all laws that discriminate against women and girls and to ensure that any bill still before Parliament that would further undermine the empowerment of women is dropped. She urges the Government to ensure the freedom of movement of women and girls and guarantee their right to physical education, physical activity and sport. Laws imposing dress codes on women should be reviewed, and the Government should respect the right of anyone to privacy and ensure that security forces refrain from acting as moral guardians of the citizens.

He encourages the Government to continue to amend laws in line with its legal obligations and pledges made during the Universal Periodic Review to protect the equal and full enjoyment by women of their civil, political, social and economic rights, including the right to freedom of movement, the right to work and the right to be free from discrimination, especially in the workplace.

Existing laws and draft legislation appear to unreasonably exclude individuals from standing for public office on the basis of gender, religion, political affiliation, opinion and social or personal background. Encourages the authorities to reconsider statutes that place unreasonable conditions on the exercise by all Iranian citizens of rights protected by article 25 of the Covenant (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).

Urges the authorities to consider examining the merits of views shared about the root causes of drug abuse and crime in the Islamic Republic of Iran, along with proposals that urge it to re-examine the deterrent effects and human rights implications of the country's drug policies.

The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to open greater space for the aforementioned groups of civil society actors to be able to carry out their work. He also wishes to stress the importance of freedom of expression and assembly for a democratic, open society governed by the rule of law, and encourages the Government to refrain from repressing dissent. The Special Rapporteur would also like to underscore the importance of perpetuating a culture of tolerance, and urges the Government to prevent discrimination against women, as well religious and ethnic minorities, in all spheres of public life and services, and to protect their freedoms to freely associate and express themselves.

In the light of its general comment No. 10 (2007) on children's rights in juvenile justice, the Committee urges the State party to bring its juvenile justice system fully into line with the Convention and other relevant standards. Increase the age of criminal responsibility for girls, and ensure that girls and boys are treated on equal terms under the whole criminal justice system.

Invest in training and providing more female teachers, especially in rural areas of the country.

Review its legislation with a view to banning polygamy, which is contrary to women's and girls' dignity and infringes their human rights and freedoms, including equality and protection within the family.

In the light of its general comment No. 18 (2014) on harmful practices, adopted jointly with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, take measures to enforce article 663 of the Islamic Penal Code and to stop, effectively, the practice of female genital mutilation throughout the country;

Ensure that those responsible for the approval of forced and child marriage, including judges, parents, guardians, and religious or traditional leaders, are held accountable;

Develop awareness-raising campaigns and programmes on the harmful effects of child marriage on the physical and mental health and well-being of girls, targeting households, local authorities, religious leaders, and judges and prosecutors;

Utilize a child-rights approach in the elaboration of the State budget, by implementing a tracking system for the allocation and the use of resources for children throughout the budget, and use this tracking system for impact assessments on how investments in any sector may serve the best interests of the child, ensuring that the different impact of such investment on girls and boys is measured;

The Committee reiterates its previous recommendation (see CRC/C/15/Add.254, para. 71) that the State party take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures to (trafficking and sale of persons under the age of 18 years) prevent and eliminate this phenomenon and to ensure that traffickers are prosecuted, convicted and punished.

The Committee draws the State party's attention to its general comment No. 17 (2013) on the right of the child to rest, leisure, play, recreational activities, cultural life and the arts, and urges the State party to stop discriminating against girls in access to these rights, and to ensure that they are guaranteed the same rights to enjoy cultural, artistic and sports activities on equal terms with boys.

The Committee draws the State party's attention to its general comment No. 15 (2013) on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, and recommends that the State party take all necessary measures to prevent early pregnancies by prohibiting child marriages and providing access to contraceptives and to safe abortion, and to post-abortion care services, throughout the country. It also recommends that the State party decriminalize abortions in all circumstances and ensure that the views of the pregnant girl are always heard and respected in abortion decisions. Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the State party take measures to increase the allocation of public funds to improve the health situation of inhabitants of remote areas, focusing in particular on the health infrastructure. In doing so, the State party should seek financial and technical assistance from UNICEF and the World Health Organization, among others.

With reference to paragraph 27 of the present document, the Committee urges the State party to revise its Civil Code and all other relevant legislation to ensure equal rights of girls in family relations and provide girls with the right to inheritance on equal terms with boys. Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the State party consider ratifying the Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, the Hague Protocol of 23 November 2007 on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations, and the Hague Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children.

The Committee urges the State party to take measures to prevent and eliminate discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief and to ensure that members of religious minority groups, in particular persons of the Baha'i faith, are not persecuted, imprisoned or ill-treated on the account of their religion. The Committee also recommends that the State party review its hijab laws and regulations and ensure that the right of girls to wear or not to wear the hijab is fully respected.

In the light of its general comment No. 12 (2009) on the right of the child to be heard, the Committee recommends that the State party adopt and implement legislation recognizing the right of the child to be heard in all relevant legal proceedings by establishing systems and/or procedures for social workers and courts to comply with the principle. It also recommends that the State party conduct programmes and awareness-raising activities to promote the meaningful and effective participation of all children within the family, the community and schools, including within student council bodies, with particular attention to girls and to children in vulnerable situations.

The Committee urges the State party to revise its legislation in order to ensure that girls enjoy the same rights and entitlements as boys in all aspects of life, especially in family relations, the criminal and civil justice system and property rights, and to take measures to eliminate any forms of discrimination in practice.

The Committee urges the State party to urgently repeal its laws and policies that are discriminatory against girls and religious and ethnic minorities and ensure that all children, irrespective of their gender, ethnicity or religious beliefs, enjoy equal rights and freedoms as guaranteed under the Convention. In particular, the Committee urges the State party to ensure that the State party's legislation does not leave the interpretation and implementation of its legislation to the wide discretion of the judiciary without providing them with the necessary training and interpretative guidelines.

The Committee recommends that the State party take urgent legislative steps to specifically criminalize domestic violence, including marital rape. It also recommends that the State party take steps to ensure that victims of domestic violence have access to effective means of redress and immediate protection, including through a sufficient number of safe houses.

The Committee recommends that the State party take steps to ensure universal access to health insurance, providing for coverage for a minimum essential level of benefits to all individuals and families,including access to health facilities, goods and services on a non-discriminatory basis; provision of essential drugs; access to reproductive, maternal (prenatal as well as post-natal) and child health care; and immunization against the major infectious diseases occurring in the community.

The Committee recommends that the State party increase its efforts to combat unemployment through specifically targeted measures, in particular, aimed at women and youth, including by addressing mismatches between education and labour markets through increases in the quality of technical and vocational training and education. The Committee also urges the State party to adopt temporary special measures to address the very high unemployment rates in areas with ethnic minorities, and to include information in its next State party report on the progress achieved.

The Committee recommends that the State party take steps to address the declining participation of women in the labour force. The Committee recommends that the State party amend the Civil Code and the Family Protection Law with the aim toremove the power of a spouse to prohibit the other spouse from entering employment.The Committee also recommends that the State party take steps to increase the number of women in decision-making and judicial bodies at all levels and in all areas.

The Committee recommends that the State party take steps to lift all restrictions on access to university education, including bans on female and male enrolment, limited quotas for women in certain fields, and gender segregation in classrooms and facilities.

The Committee recommends that the State party should spell out a clear legislative, judicial and administrative basis for giving fullest possible effect to the provisions of the Covenant "with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized in the present Covenant by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures." (art. 2 (1) of the Covenant).The Committee invites the Government of Iran to undertake necessary steps, both legislative and practical, in order to ensure that the rights enunciated in the Covenant are able to be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, especially in the case of ethnic or religious minorities. The Committee notes that the obligation to ensure equal opportunity for women warrants particular attention, especially in relation to the right to work, family related rights and the right to education.

Listen to the voices of women.

Support research on the linkages between discrimination and violence against women and family and societal well-being;

Ensure that women enjoy full freedom and rights to become equal partners in decision-making in the home, at work and in society at large;

Ensure that women have equal rights to enter into marriage and during the marriage relationship, as well as at its dissolution;

Provide special programmes for women from minority groups who suffer multiple forms of discrimination;

Institute special measures to increase women's political participation and appoint more women to high-level government positions;

Promote women's participation in the formal labour market by ensuring equality of opportunity and eliminating discriminatory laws and practices related to women's work;

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.

Ensure that all institutions and individuals engaged in law enforcement activities are accountable to the Government and that they respect all human rights and fundamental freedoms as laid out in international human rights instruments;

Conduct a full investigation into suicides of young women and their relationship to diverse forms of violence against women, to design preventive and protective measures to address these suicides, and to prevent the development of prejudice in public opinion that would revictimize survivors of suicide attempts and/or their families;

Conduct research on violence against women and to collect data concerning its prevalence;

Establish and support more shelters for women who have been subjected to violence and to ensure that women are able to access information about these shelters through the police, judicial personnel and medical staff as well as women's non-governmental organizations;

Provide effective protection to women who have experienced violence by ensuring that they are able to approach the police, to secure alternative housing and to access medical care;

Review all cases of women currently being detained for crimes related to sexual and moral conduct who did not have a fair trial or enjoy guarantees of due process with a view to retrying the case or releasing the accused woman.

Abolish requirements that women present eyewitnesses in order to prove that they have been subjected to violence and allow women to prove violence through medical or police reports and other credible evidence;

Institute proper investigation procedures for rape cases and ensure that rape victims are not subject to prosecution under adultery provisions where they are unable to prove rape;

Ensure that punishments do not discriminate against women, that they are proportionate to the offence, and that they are determined by a court of law in accordance with the principles of equality and non-discrimination;

Ensure that the right to a fair trial is fully respected and that all women detainees are brought to trial, with access to a lawyer and legal aid where necessary, without undue delay;

Eliminate all obstruction to justice on the grounds of sex, class and religion emanating from the practice of diyah;

Remove obstacles to women's rights with regard to child custody, divorce, inheritance and freedom of movement

Implement the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in order to ensure that women human rights defenders are able to carry out their work with full autonomy and without being subjected to retaliation by the State or other actors.

Ratify the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and protect women victims of trafficking, ensure accountability of the traffickers and provide compensation to the victims;

Ensure full respect for all human rights, as guaranteed in international human rights treaties ratified by Iran, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which, inter alia, guarantee the right to non-discrimination based on sex

Ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women without reservations as soon as possible, and bring national laws into conformity with the Convention

Implement the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women

The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to take the necessary measures to guarantee the existence of an environment in which all human rights defenders can carry out their legitimate work without risk to their physical and psychological integrity or to any form of restriction, harassment, intimidation or fear of persecution, in accordance with the fundamental principles endorsed in the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. On the subject of defenders working to promote women's rights, she encourages the Government to pay particular attention to the recommendations given in her report to the Human Rights Council in 2011 (A/HRC/16/44, para.109-112).

The State party should adopt legislation criminalizing domestic violence and take steps to effectively combat domestic violence. It should ensure that victims have immediate access to means of redress and protection, including through the establishment of a sufficient number of safe houses for victims. The State party should ensure that acts of domestic violence are effectively investigated and that perpetrators are prosecuted and sanctioned. The State party should also ensure that a husband is not exempted from punishment for voluntary manslaughter, in the event that he murders his wife on suspicion of adultery.

The State party should take steps to increase the number of women in decision- making and judicial bodies at all levels and in all areas. It should also organize special training programmes for women and regular awareness campaigns in this regard.

The Committee recommends that active measures should be taken to enhance the status of women in the Islamic Republic of Iran in accordance with articles 2, 3 and 23 of the Covenant and to guarantee their equal enjoyment of rights and freedoms.