Refugee Agency: 75,000 children in Iran are eligible for Iranian citizenship
The UN refugee agency's office in Iran says 75,000 children in Iran are eligible to receive Iranian citizenship.
According to the organization's report, published on December 1, these children are at risk of "statelessness."
The UN refugee agency also praised Iran's move to grant Iranian citizenship to thousands of children born to Iranian mothers and non-Iranian fathers.
The report states that the law, which allows the transfer of citizenship from Iranian mothers to their children, is “an important step in closing the gap between men and women” in a country where citizenship is passed from father to son.
The organization wrote that although Iranian laws on citizenship "still do not treat mothers and fathers completely equally," the passage of this law represents "significant progress" in this area.
The files of ten thousand children applying for citizenship in Iran have been registered so far, and the first children were able to receive their birth certificates and Iranian citizenship last month.
On May 21, 2020, the Iranian Cabinet approved the executive regulations for granting citizenship to individuals covered by this law, in implementation of the single article of the law amending the law determining the citizenship of children born from marriages between Iranian women and foreign men.
According to this regulation, any Iranian woman who is married to a non-Iranian man and as a result of this marriage has a child under the age of 18, and any person born to an Iranian mother and a non-Iranian father and over the age of 18 can apply for citizenship for their child.
Transfer of nationality through the mother is considered a natural right for women in developed countries, but in Iran it remains challenging and thousands of families struggle with it.
In recent years, many women's rights advocates and UN special rapporteurs have repeatedly criticized "discriminatory laws against women" in Iran and called on the Islamic Republic's authorities to reform laws related to women.
Source: Radio Farda
