Iranian status of children of Iranian women subject to approval by the Ministry of Intelligence and IRGC Intelligence
Finally, after three reviews, the Guardian Council approved the bill on October 1, 2019, to determine the status of children born from marriages between Iranian women and foreign men. The Guardian Council made granting Iranian citizenship to children born to Iranian mothers conditional on confirmation by the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization that the child's parents have no security records.
This condition of making the child’s mother’s citizenship conditional on the approval of two parallel security and intelligence agencies reflects the security perspective on one of the most obvious human rights, the right to citizenship, and punishes children for their parents’ activities. In addition, since a similar condition is not foreseen for granting citizenship to children born from marriages between Iranian men and non-Iranian women, this condition also discriminates against women. This practice will lead to discrimination based on individuals’ political beliefs and opinions, and given the lack of transparency in the performance and criteria of the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization in determining “no security problem,” it opens the way for abuse and the application of personal preferences by intelligence and security agents.
According to Ahmad Midari, Deputy Minister of Social Welfare at the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, "Currently, 49,060 children in Iran do not have birth certificates due to the impossibility of transferring citizenship from their mothers. It is also said that between 150,000 and one million children do not have birth certificates and identity documents."
Children without citizenship and identification documents face many problems in accessing health services and education. Those children who live outside Iran need to obtain visas to travel to Iran, which creates many legal and administrative problems for the family. Also, stateless children who live inside the country, often the result of marriages between Iranian women and Afghan or Iraqi men, may be exposed to abuse or even child trafficking due to the lack of birth registration, and it will also be difficult for them to be protected by protection and judicial authorities. Ahmad Midari, Deputy Minister of Welfare, told ISNA: "One of the worst types of poverty is legal and identity poverty. In other words, it refers to children who are not recognized by the law."
On October 1, 2019, Abbasali Kadkhodaei, spokesman for the Guardian Council, wrote on his Twitter account: “The bill amending the law determining the nationality of children born from marriages between Iranian women and foreign men was approved by the Guardian Council today.” The bill will likely come into effect within the next few weeks, after being notified by the president and published in the official gazette.
Under this law, Iranian women can request that their children who have non-Iranian fathers be granted Iranian citizenship and documents.
Iranian identification will be granted, regardless of whether the father’s presence in Iran is legal or illegal, and regardless of whether their marriage is officially registered in Iran. With the amendments made by the Guardian Council, granting citizenship will be conditional on the absence of a security problem being confirmed by two intelligence agencies, the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization. Non-Iranian fathers of these children will also be able to obtain a residence permit in Iran if they are certified by these two intelligence agencies as having no security problem.
The government began reviewing the bill amending the law on determining the nationality of children born from marriages between Iranian women and foreign men about four years ago, and after amendments were made by the Parliament's Judicial and Legal Commission, it was approved in two sessions on May 12 and 13, 2019. However, the Guardian Council returned it to the Parliament twice, and in the final stage, the Parliament's Legal and Judicial Commission amended it on September 22 by adding the name of the IRGC Intelligence Organization alongside the Ministry of Intelligence and sent it to the Guardian Council. Now, after a month, the Guardian Council has finally approved it so that it can enter the publication and notification stages.
According to this resolution: "Children born from marriages between Iranian women and non-Iranian men, who were born or will be born before or after the enactment of this law, will acquire Iranian citizenship before reaching the full age of 18 years, at the request of the Iranian mother and provided that they do not have a security problem (as determined by the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization)."
The resolution also stipulates that if the mother does not exercise her right to apply for citizenship, the children in question, upon reaching the full age of 18, "can apply for Iranian citizenship, and if there are no security problems (as determined by the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization), they will be accepted as Iranian citizens. The response to the security inquiry must be made within a maximum of three months, and the police will proceed to issue a residence permit to the non-Iranian father, provided there are no security problems (as determined by the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization)."
Also, according to Note 2 of this law: "Stateless individuals who themselves and at least one of their parents were born in Iran can apply for Iranian citizenship after reaching the full age of 18. If they do not have a criminal record or security problem (as determined by the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization), they will be accepted as Iranian citizens."
Source: Human Rights Campaign
