This text does not have a Farsi translation. It is a caption for an image and does not contain any words or phrases in Farsi.Nazila Rostamzadeh

The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child is the main international source for protecting children’s rights. This convention is the most comprehensive document on children’s rights that has been developed so far, and it is the first document to address these rights in a necessary and enforceable manner on an international level. All United Nations member countries, except for the United States, have joined this convention, and Iran also joined in February 1994 under the condition that its provisions do not conflict with domestic laws and Islamic standards, and that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not obligated to comply with them in any case or at any time. This accession is legally incorrect and unacceptable, and due to its ambiguity and generality, it contradicts the purpose and intent of the convention, violates international law, goes against the principles and objectives of international law and human rights included in it regarding children’s rights, and is considered a violation of the principle of the superiority of international law over domestic law, and has been

Convention on the Rights of the Child at a Glance.

This convention, consisting of 54 articles, was adopted unanimously at the United Nations General Assembly on November 20, 1989. In September 1990, one month after 20 countries ratified and acceded to the convention, it became enforceable. In accordance with Article 43 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in order to ensure the implementation of the aforementioned convention, a committee called the “United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child” was formed, consisting of 10 qualified experts from 5 continents at the United Nations. This committee is considered as the monitoring body of the commission, responsible for discussing and promoting children’s rights among member countries. The two additional protocols of this convention include “Prohibition of the Use of Children in Armed Conflict” and “Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography”, both adopted on May 25, 2000, by resolution of the General Assembly.

The content of this convention can be divided into six general categories.

A – The materials that address general issues of defining children, the principle of non-discrimination, and the principle of best interests in children’s rights.

B- Materials that include the civil and political rights of children.

C – Materials that address the economic, social, and cultural rights of children.

The materials that have been allocated to specific matters related to children, such as the role and position of parents in relation to children, have been determined in Articles 1-41 of the Convention.

Part two of the convention, which mainly addresses issues related to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

And finally, the third part, which is the final section of this convention, has allocated articles to administrative issues related to the convention, such as accession, signature, and amendment of this international document on human rights. Before the adoption of this convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had indirectly and directly addressed the rights of children in articles 2 and 25. Article 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – which is a binding international document – elaborates on the rights of children in three paragraphs and emphasizes the principle of non-discrimination towards children, as well as the right of children to protection in the areas of family, society, and country. The 1959 Declaration on the Rights of the Child also elaborates on the rights of children in more detail. However, all of these documents show that the international community suffers from an inadequate legal system in protecting the rights of children. The non-binding nature of declarations and the general nature of the International Covenant do not cover all

An overview and comparative study of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the status of laws and legal institutions related to children and the situation of children in Iran, shows a significant gap between the observed realities and the legal and international commitments in the field of children’s rights and related human rights and citizenship standards. The multiplicity of organizations and parallel institutions, conflicts in related laws, inadequacy and lack of effective and appropriate legal guarantees, lack of promotion of citizenship and children’s rights culture in society and the education system, lack of attention from the legislative and executive branches of the country towards aligning national laws with relevant international rules on children’s rights, partial implementation of existing incomplete laws in the field of family and children’s rights, and the impossibility of full enforcement of children’s rights in the Iranian judicial system, lack of benefit from the country’s legislative, educational and cultural system from relevant experts and lawyers in the field of developing a “comprehensive educational, cultural and media system related to

The increasing spread of poverty, violence, sexual and economic exploitation of children in the world, the social and cultural damages to children of different nations, malnutrition and the deplorable state of public health and their rights, the effects of displacement and refuge on the health of children, war and lack of peace in different regions of the world, the necessity, explanation and standardization of international laws related to children’s rights, providing national platforms for the establishment of these laws and regulations and achieving increasing international guarantees and predictions, the right of children to access human rights courts against governments, as well as the establishment of a “Special International Court for Children” or “International Court for Crimes Against Children” for widespread and committed crimes against them and defining these crimes as “crimes against humanity” by governments, necessitates the establishment of a “World Organization for the Protection of Children’s Rights” in the future. The legal studies unit of this institution emphasizes the need for the twelfth government and the president,

An overview of the process of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s membership in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Despite the fact that Article 51 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child only allows for reservations to be made at the time of ratification or accession to the Convention, the government of Iran, upon signing the Convention, made the following reservation for itself: “The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the right to apply reservations to any provisions or articles of the Convention that may be contrary to Islamic law, and reserves the right to apply such reservations at the time of ratification.” It should be noted that many other Islamic countries have also made similar reservations for themselves at the time of ratification or accession to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Two years after the signing of the convention, the draft for allowing the Islamic Republic of Iran to accede was sent to the Islamic Consultative Assembly on September 23, 1372. This draft was discussed and approved by the Judicial and Legal Commission of the Assembly on December 28, 1372, and then in an open session of the Assembly on January 19, 1372, it was brought up for discussion and passed with the following article: “The Convention on the Rights of the Child, consisting of an introduction and 54 articles attached, is approved and permission is granted for the Islamic Republic of Iran to accede to it, provided that its provisions do not conflict with domestic laws and Islamic standards in any case or at any time, and it is not necessary for the Islamic Republic of Iran to comply with it.”

The mentioned resolution was sent to the Guardian Council for review and opinion in accordance with Article 94 of the Constitution, to ensure its compliance with religious and constitutional standards. In its ruling number 5760 dated 14/11/1372, the Guardian Council deemed this resolution of the parliament to be in violation of religious standards and returned it to the parliament.

Apparently, the general and ambiguous nature of the condition mentioned in the resolution of the parliament did not even satisfy the Guardian Council; so much so that the Guardian Council explicitly declared cases of inconsistency with the criteria of the convention to the parliament in its theory. According to the Guardian Council, the articles that are inconsistent with the criteria of Islamic law are: “paragraph 1 of article 12, paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 13, paragraphs 1 and 3 of article 14, paragraph 2 of article 15, article 16, and paragraph d (part 1) of article 29”.

Despite the opinion of the Guardian Council regarding determining cases that are against Sharia – a method that many Islamic countries have adopted – the Islamic Consultative Assembly remained on its previous method, which is issuing a general condition regarding not conflicting with the sacred standards of Islam.

Finally, in the amendment approved in the session of February 25, 1994, the commission made a minor change in the wording of Article 1; in the last line of Article 1, after the phrase “Islamic standards”, the phrase “or be” was added. As a result, the reserved text in Article 1 was changed to the following: “… provided that its provisions do not conflict with domestic laws and Islamic standards in any case and at any time, or be disregarded by the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

According to some legal experts, the meaning of this new phrase is that the Islamic Republic of Iran, despite ratifying the convention, will not only refuse to amend its domestic laws to comply with the provisions of the convention, but may also enact and enforce laws in the future that contradict the regulations of the convention.

Important note is that the Islamic Republic of Iran has acceded to one of the two optional protocols of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, namely the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. The law of accession of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the aforementioned protocol was approved by the Parliament on August 9, 2007 and was confirmed by the Guardian Council on August 17 of the same year. (3) The protocol has been in force for Iran since September 26, 2007. However, Iran has not yet acceded to the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, despite signing it in 2010 by the then Minister of Foreign Affairs on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. There have been many disputes in recent years regarding Iran’s accession to this protocol. The main reason for opponents of accession to this protocol is the possibility of creating restrictions on the activities of the Basij

Legal review“

Condition.“

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The condition and reservation that the Islamic Republic of Iran has stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a general condition based on the provisions of the Convention. It should be noted that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty. Human rights treaties do not involve mutual obligations between governments and are not enforced in the relationships between member states. Rather, these treaties recognize rights for individuals and the main purpose of human rights treaties is to protect the rights of individuals.

Therefore, the implementation of conditions in human rights treaties, especially in contemporary discourse of international human rights, differs to some extent from other international treaties. According to the rules of treaty law in international law, one of the conditions for the validity of a state’s membership in a convention is the clarity and lack of ambiguity of the condition; however, from the perspective of some jurists, conditions similar to Iran’s condition on the Convention on the Rights of the Child are a general and ambiguous condition.

With the inclusion of general and interpretable phrases and limitations such as “Islamic standards” and “domestic laws,” without specifying any articles or regulations from the treaty that may contradict these standards, it is essentially impossible to determine the extent to which the drafting state has accepted the obligations arising from the treaty. However, the fundamental question is what are the effects of the reservations made by the Islamic Republic of Iran on the Convention on the Rights of the Child? According to Judge Lauterpacht, a prominent professor of international law, in order to determine the effects of a reservation, the intention of the drafting state must be taken into account; if the reservation is an essential condition for that state, it cannot be disregarded, and at the same time, the drafting state cannot be considered bound and committed to the treaty. However, if the reservation is not mentioned as an essential condition for the drafting state, it can be considered null and void, but the expression of consent to the obligations of the treaty

Regarding the condition of the Iranian government on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, considering the importance of the subject of the condition of non-contradiction of the provisions of the Convention with legal standards, it seems that this condition is of great importance to the Iranian government. Therefore, it is not possible to ignore the condition of the Islamic Republic of Iran and declare it invalid unilaterally. The best solution is to determine the limits of Iran’s obligations towards the Convention, taking into account this condition or reservation. This is a method that many Islamic countries have adopted in terms of applying conditions to the Convention and have provided a list of Convention articles that may conflict with Islamic legal standards.

It should be noted that now, with the detailed interpretations provided by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the text and provisions of the Convention cannot be used as the sole criteria. For example, Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child concerns the right to health; the text of the article does not appear to conflict with religious standards, but the extensive interpretations provided by the Committee on the Rights of the Child are in conflict with the religious standards governing Iran. Some examples of this include:

1. Abortion permit for teenagers.

2. Recognizing sexual education for children without considering the rights of parents in this matter.

3. Access to pregnancy prevention services for children (all individuals under 18 years old).

Reports of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has submitted three reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in accordance with Article 44, paragraph 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Iran’s initial report was submitted to the Committee with a one-year delay in 1997. The majority of the report focuses on the economic, social, and cultural rights of children and the positive measures taken to fulfill these rights in Iran.

The second periodic report of Iran was also submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child with a one-year delay in 2002. (5) The quality of the second report of the Iranian government to the Committee on the Rights of the Child had improved in terms of accuracy and comprehensiveness. Following the submission of this report by the Iranian government, the Committee on the Rights of the Child also submitted a list of questions regarding Iran’s second report to Iran in 2004.

The government of Iran presented its third report, which was supposed to be submitted in 2006, along with its fourth report on integration and presentation.

Sources:

1- In Mazari, Mohammad Reza, child and children’s rights in Iran, the Child Rights and International Law Studies Unit of the Zaman Institute of Legal and International Studies, 92-1381.

2- In Mazari, Mohammad Reza, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, Child Rights and International Law Studies Unit of the Zaman Institute of Legal and International Studies, Rah-e Maqsoud website, 29 Esfand 1389.