Iran’s Civil Society Awaiting Child Rights Justice

The existing laws in Iran for protecting the rights of children and adolescents are not comprehensive and sufficient. This shortcoming has prompted the judiciary and government to seek parliamentary approval of a bill, despite the existence of the Law on the Protection of Children and Adolescents passed in 2002. This bill, initially submitted by the judiciary to the government in May 2009, was sent to parliament in November 2011—exactly six years ago with amendments—but has not yet reached the parliamentary floor.

Many experts and civil activists believe that the passage of such a bill, despite all its potential shortcomings, could have eliminated many problems related to child rights violations and largely prevented widespread child abuse in society.

Child labor, marriage, and child trafficking, alongside harassment, torture, and sexual exploitation, are phenomena that have particularly drawn the attention of Iranian public opinion and media in recent months. A series of tragic incidents have served as catalysts, making the protection of child rights and a more serious confrontation with child abuse increasingly a demand of civil society.

The murder of seven-year-old Atena Eslani from Parsabad, the murder of three-year-old Afghan girl Setayesh Ghoreishi, and the likelihood of execution of an offender who is himself below the legal age, the murder of two-and-a-half-year-old Ahoura by his “stepfather” in Rasht—all accompanied by sexual abuse—on one hand wounded public sentiment, and on the other hand further exposed the absence of proportionate and deterrent laws. The tragic death of eight-month-old Benita in a stolen vehicle was another manifestation of how other social harms affect the violation of children’s rights in Iran.

“Bill review in maximum two more months”

Given public demands to prevent child abuse, it is likely that the Bill on the Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents will be submitted to parliament “within one month and at most two months.” This news was announced by Rouhollah Hazratpour, a member of the parliamentary Judicial and Legal Commission, referring to the “alarming increase in child abuse statistics in Iran.”

Hazratpour said on Saturday (October 21) in an interview with Khabar Online: “The bill in question provides very severe and serious punishments for various forms of child and adolescent abuse.” According to the Urmia representative in parliament, “the clarity and explicitness of the law regarding violations of children’s and adolescents’ rights, including child abuse by parents, educators, and other individuals, is included.”

One of the latest published statistics shows that 86 percent of reported child abuse cases in Iran are committed by parents. Hossein Asadbeigi, head of Iran’s Social Emergency Services, announced this news on September 21, stating that 60 percent of all child abuse cases are committed by fathers, 26 percent by mothers, and the remainder by siblings. According to Asadbeigi, the share of “strangers” in child abuse was only 1.5 percent. The head of Iran’s Social Emergency Services stated three months earlier that child abuse by family members accounted for 75 percent of all child abuse cases.

Provision for “severe punishments”

According to Hazratpour, the Bill on the Protection of Children’s Rights provides for “severe monetary punishments and even long-term imprisonment” for violators.

The Bill on the Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, for various levels of child abuse including child trafficking or organ trafficking, use of children for prostitution or creating conditions for child and adolescent suicide, in addition to monetary fines, provides for six months to 25 years imprisonment.

In recent years, shocking news and statistics have been published about adolescent suicide in Iran. Although there are no official statistics on suicide rates in Iran in general and adolescent and student suicides in particular, domestic media have repeatedly reported high rates of suicide among students, particularly due to factors such as humiliation in schools.

Tayyebeh Siavoshi, Vice-Chair of the Women’s Faction in Parliament, suggested in late September of this year that the passage of the Bill on the Protection of Children and Adolescents might be postponed to next year (1397) “due to its novelty” and the absence of specific laws in this area.

However, Hassan Norouzi, spokesman for the parliamentary Legal and Judicial Commission, while expressing hope that the bill will reach parliament “in the coming days,” said: “In the clauses of this bill, crimes related to labor exploitation, financial and instrumental exploitation, crimes related to sexual abuse, crimes related to exploitation in cyberspace, crimes related to exploitation of children for illegal acts such as trafficking or distribution of obscene CDs, crimes related to beating children, crimes related to child trafficking, crimes related to selling children’s organs—all of which are condemned in sacred Islamic law—are seen.”

According to Norouzi, according to the bill’s provisions, the judiciary will be obliged to establish a special children’s court, the welfare organization will prepare a place for keeping victim children upon the prosecutor’s order, the Ministry of Education will be responsible for monitoring the free education of these children, and the Ministry of Labor will protect children against child traffickers and child exploitation.

The spokesman for the parliamentary Legal and Judicial Commission said that “any form of harassment and abuse of children and adolescents that causes physical, psychological, or moral damage to them and endangers their physical or mental health is prohibited and will be subject to punishment under this bill.”

Child abuse with reference to “Sharia”

Child rights activists see the problem not particularly in crimes that are completely obvious and certain to all social classes, such as rape or child abduction, but in relation to crimes that face opposition from some traditional Shia authorities and clergy or resistance from low-income groups and residents of underdeveloped areas. Child marriage is one of these crimes.

The marriage age in Iran is determined based on “sexual maturity,” while according to experts, sexual maturity is only part of complete maturity. Awareness, education, and freedom of choice are the most essential conditions for starting a family. Statistics from the Vice Presidency of Women and Family Affairs show that in 2013, approximately 4.5 percent of registered marriages involved girls under 15 years old. This figure reached 5.5 percent in 2016.

Marriage of boys under 15 is much rarer than girls, but its number is also increasing. In 2014, the highest rate of child marriage in Iran was recorded. According to Iran’s Civil Registration Organization, in that year over 40,000 children entered married life before the end of childhood.

Official statistics are of course limited to marriages registered in official offices, and this number may be much higher than official statistics due to non-registration of marriages of children without birth certificates or non-official registration of polygamous marriages. Among marriages at young ages, children under 10 years old are also seen. Statistics show that between 2011 and 2015, between 176 and 220 children under ten years of age were married annually.

According to experts and child rights advocates, child marriage is “sexual abuse.” However, simultaneously with efforts by some parliamentarians and support from civil activists to prevent child marriage, some extremist currents strongly attack proposals to “raise the marriage age.” Minou Eslani, head of the “Women’s Basij Organization of Iran,” stated in December of last year (2016) that efforts to raise the marriage age for girls are a “war against God,” describing it as “contrary to religious teachings” and contrary to “human nature.”

The obstacle of “moderate government and prudent parliament”

Poverty, addiction, tribal and sectarian relations, and more importantly the religious decree that sets girls’ puberty age at nine years, are factors that fuel the spread of child marriage. It is estimated that up to 20 percent of Iranian children may suffer from behavioral disorders, a large portion of which is related to how they are treated.

In Iran, marriage of girls from age 13 and boys from age 15 is legal. Of course, marriage of girls and boys before these ages is also considered permissible “with the consent of the guardian and with the determination of the court, contingent upon observing the child’s interests.”

However, civil activists, child rights advocates, and some parliamentarians resist these pressures. In one of the latest civil movements in this area, a group of social activists on August 13, 2017, by issuing a statement, demanded, among other things, raising the marriage age for girls and boys to 18, eliminating the possibility of child marriage with guardian consent, prohibiting and criminalizing marriage of adults with children, and also making unregistered child marriages a crime.

The existing resistance to the “raising marriage age” proposal is such that Parvaneh Salahshouri, chair of the Women’s Faction in Parliament, spoke about “obstruction” of it about three weeks ago. According to Ms. Salahshouri, since “this is a moderate government and a prudent parliament,” the passage of such laws “is not easy.”

Tayyebeh Siavoshi also drew the attention of “all officials and especially parliament” in late September to the important role of NGOs in implementing the Bill on the Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, saying: “Given that the government faces shortcomings in terms of financial resources and human resources, NGOs can be the best implementers of the bill on the protection of children’s and adolescents’ rights and play an intermediary role between people and government, but so far the government and parliament have not addressed this matter.”

Civil activists have repeatedly complained that NGOs and non-governmental organizations, once they become powerful and sometimes have friction with government institutions or the interests of specific religious groups or classes, face harsh security measures. Despite these concerns, they still await the passage of the Bill on the Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents as a “minimal safety net” so that Iranian society can take its first step toward safeguarding children’s rights in its shadow.

Source: DW