UN Human Rights Committee Calls for Dissolution of ‘Morality Police’ in Iran

The UN Human Rights Committee, expressing concern over the treatment of women and girls in Iran, called for the dissolution of the “Morality Police” in Iran.

The United Nations human rights body on Friday, November 3rd, while reviewing Iran’s human rights record, expressed concern about the Islamic Republic’s treatment of women and girls and announced that the Islamic Republic must pass comprehensive legislation that not only protects women and girls against all forms of violence, but also explicitly criminalizes domestic violence, marital rape, so-called honor crimes, and all forms of violence against women and girls.

The UN Human Rights Committee, noting that police and Basij quasi-military forces affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps enforce mandatory hijab laws through violence, stated: “An unveiled woman may face harassment, detention, fines, and even imprisonment. Activists who have challenged these laws have also faced years of imprisonment.

Iran must reform or repeal laws and policies that criminalize non-compliance with mandatory hijab and disband the Morality Police.”

According to Reuters, the Morality Police disappeared from the streets for a time following Mahsa Amini’s death due to the mandatory hijab, but has now returned to the streets and installed surveillance cameras to identify and punish unveiled women.

Uzra Zeya, US Deputy Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, also stated in remarks: “The Islamic Republic regime continues to severely restrict Iranians’ human rights and has increased monitoring and punishment of men and women engaged in civil disobedience. There are reports that the so-called Morality Police have returned to the streets of major Iranian cities and suppress women through enforcement of mandatory hijab laws, including detention and other inhumane punishments.”

Amnesty International, in a statement posted on social media, described and criticized mandatory hijab in Iran as a tool for widespread and systematic violation of women’s and girls’ human rights. The organization also called on countries worldwide to hold Iranian government officials accountable through international legal remedies for ordering, planning, and committing widespread and systematic human rights violations against women and girls through the enforcement of mandatory hijab.