Nowadays, the issue of human rights is so global and important that the acceptance and legitimacy of governments and regimes depends on how they support these rights. According to the Iranian Civil Law, treaties that are ratified between the government of Iran and other governments, in accordance with the Constitution, have the force of law. Iranian judges in domestic courts can refer to international human rights laws, without it being in conflict with Article 169 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as according to Article 9 of the Iranian Civil Law, international treaties that have been approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly in line with Articles 77 and 125 of the Constitution have the force of law. This means that they must be treated like domestic laws in court decisions; however, despite the existence of laws and international human rights treaties, the use of international treaties by judges in their rulings is not very common or customary in the judicial process of Iran, and human rights regulations do not have a place in Iranian domestic law

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Article 10۰۰

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What does the Civil Law say?

According to Article 9 of the Civil Law of Iran, “The provisions of treaties concluded between the government of Iran and other countries in accordance with the Constitution shall have the force of law”; therefore, international treaties to which the government of Iran is a party can serve as a basis for issuing judgments, similar to other laws of Iran.

Some believe that Article 9 of the Civil Law is an abandoned provision that limits international treaties to those that Iran has willingly accepted or entered into with other governments, using phrases such as “covenants”, “according to the Constitution” and “concluded”. It also considers the process of ratification and enforcement of treaties to be mandatory and diminishes the value and credibility of these provisions by using the phrase “in the form of law”, and deems them less important than the law itself. In fact, this provision is intended to prevent Iran from incurring international responsibility due to failure to comply with international obligations in domestic laws.

In contrast, some believe that with the emergence and expansion of globalization, the formation of modern communication networks, the spread of international law and human rights principles in Iranian society, the establishment of civil society organizations, and the use and reference of Iranian judges to international laws and treaties in their rulings has become more apparent than in the past. Additionally, the few rulings issued and published in this field in recent years have raised awareness among the legal community, including lawyers, about the potential of this phenomenon.

What is the meaning of the word “covenant” in Article 9 of the Civil Law? The Islamic Republic of Iran, in addition to the United Nations Charter, which includes some articles related to human rights, has signed and ratified many international human rights treaties. Iran has ratified ten of the twenty-five international human rights treaties and has only signed two others. Of the ten ratified treaties, two were accepted with conditions, and the rest were ratified without conditions. One of these treaties was the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, which the National Consultative Assembly conditionally accepted some of its articles at the time of ratification in May 1976. The other was the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Islamic Republic of Iran conditionally entered into at the time of signing in September 1991 and at the time of ratification in December 1993, with the following general condition: “The Convention on the Rights of the Child, consisting of an introduction and fifty

But why, despite the fact that these treaties should be subject to the same rules as domestic laws and be enforced by courts, are we less likely to witness such events? According to some legal experts, our domestic laws do not have strong connections with international law and many key concepts of international law are still unfamiliar among our judges, except for a few of them.

The familiarity of the Iranian legal community, especially judges, lawyers and researchers, with domestic and international human rights standards is not sufficient and has resulted in neglect and abandonment of the capacities provided by Article 9 of the Civil Code. The lack of human rights education and the lack of knowledge of judges and lawyers about human rights principles and values and international legal standards can lead to ignoring the fundamental rights of individuals in the judicial process.

The most important issue is that the legal system in Iran has not provided a clear and transparent legal framework for judges to refer to international human rights laws. Article 9 of the Civil Code is the only law that can be referenced to determine the relationship between treaties and domestic laws. However, this article does not adequately clarify this matter and therefore, there is still a question as to whether a judge can refer to international treaties that Iran has ratified in handling cases and issuing judgments, or if the reference to international treaties is left to the conversion into domestic law. In practice, there is no unified judicial procedure in this regard and perhaps amending existing laws to determine the position of international documents in the legal system may be necessary.