“این عکس یک پرنده زیبا در حال پرواز است”

“This picture shows a beautiful bird in flight.”Mehran Mosaddegh Nia

The review of the amendment to the law determining the citizenship of children born to Iranian women and foreign men began about four years ago in the government and after some changes were made by the Judiciary and Legal Commission of the Parliament, it was approved in two sessions on 22 and 23 Ordibehesht 1398 (May 2019). In this article, we will examine the process of approving this law and the factors that led to an important step towards eliminating a fundamental discrimination against Iranian women and their children by the Iranian government and Parliament. It is worth mentioning that the new resolution of the Parliament will actually replace the law determining the citizenship of children born to Iranian women and foreign men, which was approved in 2006. According to this law, “children born to Iranian women and foreign men who are born in Iran or up to one year after the approval of this law in Iran, can apply for Iranian citizenship after reaching the age of eighteen. These individuals will be accepted for Iranian

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In the history of legal systems, the role of the father has been fundamental and almost exclusive in transferring citizenship to children, while the role of the mother has either been completely ignored or given a much less significant role. However, this attitude has gradually changed and especially in recent decades, lawmakers in many countries have given mothers a role almost equal to fathers in granting citizenship to their children. The Iranian lawmaker, who in the drafting of the Civil Code (1307) and in Article 976 of the Civil Code, did not make any reference to the role of the mother in transferring Iranian citizenship, with the approval of the single article “Determining the status of children born to Iranian women and foreign men” in Mehr month of 1385, not only did not amend the ambiguous provisions of the Civil Code, but even granted less privileges to Iranian mothers in granting citizenship to their children compared to foreign women. It seemed logical and reasonable to amend these provisions in order to align with the needs of Iranian society

What was the single provision of the law determining the citizenship of children born to Iranian women and foreign men?

In the year 1985, a single law titled “The Law on Determining the Citizenship of Children Born to Iranian Women and Foreign Men” was passed in the parliament. This law granted citizenship to children born to Iranian women and foreign men until the age of 18, and also allowed for the renunciation of the father’s citizenship. After the passage of this law, for the past thirteen years, representatives from various periods of the parliament have emphasized the increasing number of children without birth certificates, and it has even been mentioned that there are one million Iranians without birth certificates. Mohammad Javad Fathi, a member of the parliament’s judiciary committee, claimed that 100 stateless children are born in Tehran every month, and in border provinces, the birth of children without birth certificates has become a serious problem. Following these statements, Parvaneh Mafi, a member of the parliament’s council and internal affairs committee, announced that according to the census of the Ministry of Cooperatives,

Approval of the general provisions of the bill to amend the law on determining the citizenship of children born to Iranian women and foreign men.

In the sessions of 22 and 23 Ordibehesht 1398 (May 2019), representatives of the General Assembly approved the amendment of the law on determining the citizenship of children born to Iranian women and foreign men with 188 votes in favor, 20 votes against, and 3 abstentions, out of a total of 246 representatives present in the Islamic Consultative Assembly. However, this bill has not yet been approved by the Guardian Council and unfortunately, it may remain in a state of ambiguity; but if this bill is finally approved, children born to Iranian women and foreign men will be granted Iranian citizenship. This law states that children born to Iranian women and foreign men before or after the approval of this law, before reaching the age of 18 according to the Iranian calendar, will be granted Iranian citizenship upon the request of their Iranian mother. In another section of the approved bill, it is stated: “After reaching the age of 18 according to the Iranian

Based on one of the provisions of this bill, individuals without citizenship who themselves and at least one of their parents were born in Iran, can apply for Iranian citizenship after reaching the age of 18. These individuals, provided they have no criminal record and security issues, will be accepted as Iranian citizens at the discretion of the Ministry of Intelligence.

However, there are two serious criticisms that are imposed on this bill. First, in the event of the final approval of this bill, a child born to an Iranian mother and a foreign father will not be considered Iranian at birth; rather, the mother must apply for the child’s citizenship and the process for this request is also not specified. If it follows the pattern of the early years of the 1360s, when Iranian mothers applied for citizenship and birth certificates for their children based on an expanded interpretation of Article 976 of the Civil Code, it will be a long and difficult process. And second, this bill states that children born from official and legal marriages are the ones considered. We know that many Iranian women have married foreigners on the outskirts of major cities and in border provinces, most of which have been purely religious, not registered, and not in accordance with the procedures of the Civil Code. (Marriage of Iranian women to foreign men is subject to special permission from the government under

Investigation of the reasons and conditions that led to the approval of this bill in the parliament.

The subject of discrimination against Iranian women, who as a result of marrying non-Iranian men become mothers of children, has been a topic of discussion among women’s rights activists and the public on social media for some time. It has been one of the demands of the one million signature campaign to combat discrimination against women. Laya Joneidi, the legal deputy of the President in the Rouhani administration, explains the government’s reasons for proposing this amendment in a public session of the parliament: “Many educated women, like the late Mirzakhani, were determined until their last moments to ensure that their children have Iranian citizenship. There are also many Iranian women living in the country who have married non-Iranian men and their children do not have Iranian citizenship, which creates discrimination among them. In the past, they faced difficulties in continuing their education, which was partially resolved by providing some facilities. However, now they face problems in finding employment and using their legal rights. These discriminatory factors

Of course, this bill must also be approved by the Guardian Council of Iran for final confirmation, and after that, it should be submitted to the presidency for ratification.

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Although the bill granting citizenship to the children of Iranian mothers was approved in parliament, unfortunately, as of writing this article, it has faced a layer of ambiguity due to the objections of the Guardian Council. As the spokesperson of the Guardian Council announced in a press conference, it was supposed to amend a law that would determine the fate of this bill. According to Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the mentioned bill does not differ from the existing general law, and the Guardian Council claims that the parliament has completely removed the “criminal and security issues” and deemed it “against religious standards”.

We must see where the fate of this bill will go in the coming months; but what is certain is that if this law is approved by the Guardian Council, Article 976 of the Iranian Civil Code, which only allows for Iranian citizenship to be transferred through the father, will be amended. It can be said that this law may be somewhat of a remedy for an unjust and discriminatory law against Iranian women and stateless children, who are deprived of one of their most basic rights – identity.