{{PREFACE}}
Violence against young girls is an undeniable phenomenon in Iran, which victimizes them in different ways in different regions, and threatens their physical and mental health while denying them a life with human dignity. Girls are subjected to different types of violence. They are victims of child abuse, incest rape, self-immolation, honor killing and women trafficking. Violence against women has an irrefutable link to the social, economic and legal bases of gender-based violence against women.
The first study on violence against women in Iran was conducted in the mid 90s. It showed that violence against women is a widespread phenomenon in the country, and that in many families, women are subject to violence regardless of their social class, education level and or level of income. This means that the violence against women isn’t limited to a certain group or social class. The “National Study on Violence against Women”, which was a collaborative project between the Center for Women’s Participation and the Interior Ministry’s Women Department, was done in 28 provinces between 2001 and 2004 for the first time, and focusing only on domestic violence.
The results of this study revealed that the index of domestic violence alone without the inclusion of other forms of gender-based violence is 52% (1). In the following studies, gradually the other forms of violence were researched and recognised as such, and in addition to domestic violence, information on social violence against women in cases like harassment of women on the streets and public places and also sexual harassment at work was gathered. Meanwhile, media reports on severe forms of gender-based violence like women trafficking, women serial killing, honor killing or rape was a confirmation of the existence of these types of violence against women (2).
Elimination of gender-based discrimination is one of the important subjects of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 2). Also, the subject of paragraph 12 is on violence against girls, in which discriminatory approaches towards girls and women as well as negative cultural traditions and clichés towards them are deemed as limiting women’s potential. Iran’s government, as a signatory member of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Beijing Declaration, is bound by international laws to take effective measures to fight violence against girls.
In this document, while examining some cases of violence against girls based on statistics and official reports, we review some of the existing laws, which instead of preventing violence against women are promoting customary traditions and clichés of violence, and we discuss the Iranian state’s obligations to the clearly stipulated women’s rights in the international treaties.
In regards to the spectrum of rights and laws in international treaties on violence against girls, there are some rights like the rights to life, or the laws on prohibition of slavery and torture that are considered fundamental and inalienable and which cannot be violated under any circumstances. There are other rights for which the states, including Iran as a signatory member, are bound to take the necessary measures to materialize. In this report, the nature of these obligations are examined, and the Iranian state’s action or its lack thereof against cases of violence against girls, and all violent approaches will be evaluated from the perspective of looking at fundamental human rights.
The findings of this research shows that not only no measures have been taken by the government to eliminate violence against girls, but also by passing laws that increase the structural violence and men’s power within the family structure, and by not revoking discriminatory laws, the government has added to the factors that have caused an increase in the number of the cases of violence against girls.
{{A) The Most Prevalent Forms of Violence Against Girls in Iran}}
A comprehensive study on the types of violence against girls has not yet been carried out in Iran. However, in this report the most obvious and prevalent forms of violence against girls have been recognized and documented from cases that were accessible.
{{1) Child Abuse}}
According to statistics, 56% of child abuse victims are girls and 44 percent are boys. 44 percent of abuses are committed by the fathers, 12 per cent by the mothers, and the rest by the relatives or other people. According to a joint report by UNICEF and the Ministry of Health, children’s sexual abuse rate in Iran has increased by 3.5% from 1996 to 1997. Of these sexually abused victims, about 30% were boys, and 70 percent were girls. This is when in the past 5 years 48 percent of boys and 52 percent of girls were subjected to child abuse. 57 per cent of the sexual abusers of the children were their fathers while the rest were the step-fathers, the fathers’ or brothers’ friends, or the schools’ sport teachers or gym coaches. The sexually abused girls were within the age range of six to eighteen. Parental abuse has reached to 75 per cent in recent years, and only 25 percent of abuses have been done by other people or were done outside of the house. This issue, considering all of the existing laws, makes controlling child abuse to encounter special difficulties (3).
New statistics released by the State Welfare Organization shows that close to 144,565 child abuse cases were reported to its emergency hotline during the first half of 2009. About 200 child abuse cases were reported to the Society for Protection of Child Rights during the first half of the year 2009, of which 200 cases were physical abuse and 32 percent were emotional ones. 53 percent of child abuse cases were by the fathers, and generally about 90 percent were by parents or step-fathers and step-mothers, all done in the private sphere of their homes (4).
Under the Children and Adolescent Protection Law, passed in 2002, individuals under the age of 18 are recognized as children and should benefit from the special protection that the law considers for them. Article 5 of that law recognizes child abuse as a public offence, for which the public prosecutor can make a case without the need for a plaintiff or a complaint. But the important point in this regard is that not only there is no organization in charge of tracking child abuse cases and taking them to court, but also there is no official organization in charge of searching for and gathering related figures or information. This is why a lot of child abuse cases are not registered, and why the medical centers and physicians are not obligated to report such cases. And therefore, it is not possible to have accurate statistics on child abuse. The only reports are restricted to 123, the hotline of the State Welfare Organization, which covers all types of social harm cases. As a result, only based on the information from the contacts to the hotline (123), 6,000 out of all calls made to 123 were related to severe child abuse. Based on the same source of information, the average age of the abused victims was five to nine, and the number of sexual abuses was higher in girls than boys. There are no reports of measures taken by the State Welfare Organization on providing special services to the victims, or on pursuing criminal charges against the perpetrators (5). In addition, in the absence of safe homes, the State Welfare Organization’s centres, who take care of the abused children, send the victims back to their homes after a while.
A bill for the protection of the children and adolescents is currently under consideration in the parliament’s social commission. The bill expands the authority of social workers to the extent of allowing them to enter, without legal permission, a building or dwelling where abuse is taking place, and to take the child out and hand him/her over to authorities within 24 to 72 hours. The bill, if approved, also obliges private medical offices to report any cases of child abuse (6). The suggested law also considers The State Welfare Organization the responsible body for overseeing child-related affairs or problems. Based on article 22 of this bill, any individual who witnesses child abuse or sees a child in serious or imminent danger but refrains from reporting it to the responsible authorities despite the ability to do so, or avoids taking immediate measures to prevent it will be sentenced to 91 days to one year in prison, or to financial penalties between 10,000 to 30,000 Rials ($1000 to $3000). Although the enforcement of this law can improve the condition of children, it should be mentioned that clauses such as “the ability to inform the responsible authorities” would create an escape route to avoid implementing the law. Also, a National Child Authority section has been created in the judiciary system recently, whose functions and activities will be covered in detail in this report in the section on the government’s undertaken measures.
{{2) Women Trafficking}}
Given the growing rate of poverty, unemployment and crimes, the drop in the age of prostitution in recent years and the trafficking of women and children have been added to the social problems in Iran. In 2009, the head of the airport police announced that four networks of sex trafficking to the Persian Gulf countries had been dismantled within the first half of 2008. Also, the report on the sale of Iranian girls in the UAE was first published by SINA news agency in June 2004.
Challenges facing the legal combat against women trafficking were examined in a study supported by Center for Women’s Participation (9). One of the most important findings of the study, which influenced the drafting of a law that combats human trafficking and was approved in the summer of 2004, was the acceptance of the fact that there was a legal vacuum in this regard. Official meetings on legal issues revealed that certain laws facilitate the expansion of women and girls trafficking. Sigheh (temporary marriage), which is the subject of the articles 1075 and the following articles in the Civil Code, paves the way for such crimes, especially considering that the registration of temporary marriages is not mandatory by law. Also, article 63 of the Islamic Penal Code, defines zina (adultery) as a crime, and envisages a sentence for it, based on which a majority of victims are penalized after their arrest (10).
The law on combating human trafficking was codified by the reformist government as preventative measures against women trafficking. The bill was presented to the parliament in the spring of 2004 and was approved in the summer of 2004. Based on article 3 of this legislation, the human traffickers could be sentenced to up to ten years in prison and to cash penalties valued at twice the amount made in their deals in addition to the confiscation of properties gained through committing the crime as well as the return of cash and properties promised by victims or third parties to be paid to them. But there is no information neither about the enforcement of this law in the courts, nor about the accused in women trafficking cases and their sentences (11)
{{3) Forced Marriages and Women’s Self-immolation}}
To resist forced marriages, women and girls set themselves on fire in provinces such as Ilam, which are in the western part of the country. Many women who are forced into a marriage consider their lives lost. Forced marriages are done either as intra-tribal traditions or mostly for economic reasons and of young girls to older men (12). It should be mentioned that the number of mentally or physically disabled children are higher in such provinces compared to the other ones, which shows the importance of the attention to the issue of forced marriages for very young girls. On the other hand, one of the root causes of honor killing is the resistance of girls to marry men in their tribes. Forced marriages have been recognized as an influencing factor in the increasing the number of self-immolation cases.
Some women’s rights activists believe that the lack of statistical figures and also reports on women’s and girls’ self-immolation cases shows that the authorities do not take the subject seriously. Although depression is officially declared as the main reason for suicide attempts, domestic conflicts has been known as the leading cause of depression in many of the provinces in the country. The insistence of authorities on depression as the main reason for suicide attempts when there were no attempts made to recognize the root causes of this phenomenon shows that the government tries to divert public attention from its own inefficiencies and its lack of planning to take necessary measures in this regard (13).
The majority of women’s self-immolation cases occur in three provinces of Ilam, Kermanshah, and Hamedan. While the cases of women’s committing suicides are under 10 percent in Tehran and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces, this number reaches to 36 to 38 percent in the three above-mentioned provinces. Kohkilouyeh-Boyerahmad, Kurdestan, Bushehr and Khuzestan consecutively follow the above-mentioned provinces in their rates of women’s suicide cases. Studies show that self-immolation is one of the most prevalent methods of suicide among women. The result of a research on the subject indicates that 58 percent of women who set themselves on fire in the Lorestan province had singled out the conflict with their husbands and others in the family as their main motivation. 88 percent of the research participants were women, of whom 41 percent were between 10 to 19 years old. 63 percent of the participants said they were subjected to derision and humiliation. 58 percent felt disappointed and worthless and 55 percent were beaten by family members (14). Legal obstacles were notably mentioned as the reason for their suicides. Some psychologists believe that a kind of protest can be seen in this method of suicide because contrary to other methods such as hanging or taking pills, which are done quietly, in silence and in a hidden way, self-immolation is a loud scream against their current conditions.
The problem is even more intensified when the suicide attempts do not end in death. The women who survive the attempt end up needing a lot of sympathy and care because of their deformed physical appearances. This extra need for care is true in all unsuccessful suicides, but there are no centers that would provide the physical and mental care they require. Ilam has the largest number of self-immolation cases by 400 cases in one year, 300 of which are among women.
{{4) Honor Killings}}
There are no statistics available on the victims of honor killings. Only one comprehensive research has been conducted so far, which doesn’t provide statistical information. Provinces such as Kurdestan, Khuzestan, Fars, Sistan and Baluchestan, Hamedan, Lorestan and Khorasan and Ilam are among the ones where honor killing happens frequently, and people witness such crimes repeatedly. Only in cities of Andimeshk and Ahwaz there are 15-20 and 40 cases of honor killing a year consecutively (15). Most of the Victims are girls who resist forced marriages or those suspicious of having a relationship with the opposite sex. This is when those convicted of the crime of honor killings can continue killing women and girls under the protection of the articles 220 and 630 of the Islamic Penal Code (The law on Honor Killings and Crimes of Passion) without the fear of any penalties. The result of a research on this subject shows that in most cases, the convicted criminals of honor killing have been sentenced to a maximum of one year in prison.
In some cases, the men in the family arrange a registered legal permission in which the girl’s father gives the legal permission to the man to kill his daughter. So when the daughter is killed, her head along with the permission to kill her is taken to the court and surrendered to the judge. The most a judge can do in these cases is to sentence the perpetrator to one or two year in prison. Although the judiciary system can make some changes to the law, it has not yet been done for different excuses.
The more important point is that the judicial procedures in cases of honor killings are completely different from each other and they’re sometimes even contradictory; In fact, it is left to the judge’s discretion to decide on these cases. Therefore, in many cases, the perpetrator is either released during the prosecution process or is pardoned by the amnesty commission (16).
While in almost all countries honor killing is considered a crime, in Iran, not only the law provides the legal context and permission for such crimes to happen, but also there are no cultural awareness programs to fight such heinous crime. In addition, women NGOs are prohibited from working on honor killing related issues.
{{5) Incest Rape}}
To do research on incest rape cases is to trespass a forbidden and sacred land, and to challenge a whole set of religious values and norms (17). In 2009, 5200 cases of sexual relationships between brothers and sisters and fathers and daughters have been registered. But according to some sociologists, these cases are only a small fraction of the rape and domestic sexual abuse cases which have never been reported or registered. The Lawyer of the sexual abuse case of a girl molested by his father quoted the judge on that case as saying “if we were to attend to all such cases, we would have to issue 40-50 execution verdicts per day” (18).
Based on Article 82 of the Islamic Penal Code, incest in any form is punishable by death. The penalty for such an act in case of a mutual consent is stoning, based on ayatollah Khomeini’s idea on the subject in his book Tahrir-ol- vasileh. Some experts believe that one of the reasons many victims of incest do not report such incidents is that they are afraid of the possible punishment they may have to face. When the cases of incest rape happen continuously, it is harder for the victims to prove that it was rape and out of force, and it is impossible for them to talk about it to people or any organizations. Even if the case is proven to be rape, they would lose a family member, and if it is not, they could be sentenced to death themselves. Also, when they are not able to prove that there is a case of incest rape at all, they may have to face the threat of the rapist or other family members and relatives, or they may have to face social ostracism. In fact, the girls and women in incest cases are put in a situation in which no matter what they can prove or not, they are the ones who lose in the end. Of the 30 cases of sexual abuse, 26 were cases of fathers abusing the daughters and 13 were cases of brothers abusing their sisters. The age range of the girls who were abused by their fathers was between 13 to 30, but girls between ages of 13 to 20 constituted the majority of cases. The age range of those girls who were abused by their brothers was between15 to 40, but again the most common cases were the ages of 15-20(19).
Due to the lack of attention to and education on reporting incest rape cases, there are no verifiable figures and statistics about these cases. Also, since fathers are recognized as the legal guardians of children, not only their sexual violence towards their daughters is not treated and reacted to as a taboo, but also in cases where it is proven to have happened, the fathers are usually pardoned. The maximum penalty for the fathers or brothers who are found guilty of sexual abuse crime is a one- year imprisonment; and the victims are sent back home to live with them (20). And there are cases where the fathers are only sentenced to pay a very low fine. Researches done on prostitution suggest that about 22 to 25 percent of prostitutes are incest rape victims, and this number is between 12 to 36 percent among runaway girls (21)
Any incest sexual relationship is recognized as adultery in the Iranian judicial system. Since the difference between incest and adultery has not been recognized in the Islamic religious jurisprudence, this difference is usually overlooked in sexual abuse cases. Whether a child is forcibly raped by a family member or whether she has sex by consent, it should be regarded as rape. Considering the legal age at which a child can make a decision to have sex, even if a sexual relationship is with the child’s consent, it should not be considered as a justification for considering the case an adultery one and judging it as such. Researches done on the subject shows that the state’s avoidance to interfere in the private sphere of family lives, and its consideration of the father and children relationship as a private one has practically paved the way for incest rape. In other words, the consideration of children as the father’s property has actually provided the permission to abuse children. If children are to obey their fathers at any cost, fathers implicitly give themselves the right to use their children bodies (22)
As a result, in Iran, not only there has been a silence regarding the occurrences of this social harm, but because of the legal loopholes many of the accused get acquitted. Also, There are not any programs for victims’ therapy or follow-up plans for the accused. In some cases, victims are sent to the centers belong to The State Welfare Organization, but due to their lack of facilities and improper conditions, the victims face so many difficulties and are usually sent back to their homes.
{{6) Girls Running Away from Home}}
One of the consequences of domestic violence against girls is their fleeing from home, cases of which has increased recently. In 2008, the director of The Institute of Social Researches and Studies at the University of Tehran, also the director of The Center of Youth at the University of Tehran, announced that there were no accurate statistics on runaway girls in Iran. But different informal statistics suggest that there are between 3,000 to 8,000 runaway girls (23). According to him, the country’s official statistics of two years ago show that there has been a 15 % yearly increase in the number of runaway girls, which indicates a social abnormality in the society. After running away from home, these girls are only 24 hours away from the possibility of being raped (24).
A research on runaway girls residing in The Crisis Intervention Center of the State Welfare Organization in Tehran suggest that about 15.6 percent of them most of the times, and about 51 percent of them sometimes have been subjected to physical abuse by either the head of the family or one of the members. Only 10 percent of girls who residing in the Crisis Center but didn’t run away said that they were sometimes subjected to physical abuse by a family member. This means that running away from home is the result of their experience of domestic violence, and that it has been inflicted on them. Based on a study on domestic violence, there is a meaningful relationship between running away from home and the physical, emotional, and verbal abuse the runaway girls experience from their fathers. Runaway girls experience a higher level of physical abuse, beating, derision, humiliation and blame by their fathers than those who do not run away from home (25)
But the solutions offered by The State Welfare Organization as the responsible body for the social problems, are not only short-term solutions, but are also added difficulties to the ones these girls experience. A testimony to this claim is the statement of the executive manager of the office of the Affairs of Social Victims at The State Welfare, in which he confirms that the number one priority of the organization is to send the girls back to their homes. The number of runaway girls admitted to the centers of The State Welfare Organization is about 2,500, who either come to the centre on their own, or become aware of the centers’ services through the centers’ mobile team or the 123 emergency line and get covered by The Crisis Intervention Centers. There is also another group of girls who are referred to the organization by police or the judicial system, and are sent to the crisis or intervention teams centers. Usually if a runaway girl is under 18 and doesn’t have the so called moral issues, her legal guardianship is given to State Welfare Organization, and then she is referred to the quasi-family centers. If the same girl is over 18 and without any of the so-called moral problems, she is sent to The State Welfare Organization’s Health Houses. If a runaway girl is over 18 and is considered to have moral problems and in need of rehabilitation, she is sent to the Socially Damaged Women Rehabilitation Centers. The length of the time the girls would be kept in these centers would depend on their conditions. A runaway girl who is under 18, considered to have moral problems, and in need of support and protection for more than 2 years, is sent to the State Welfare Organization’s dormitories. The rest of the centers have hosted other categories of girls for up to six months. If all the required conditions for the rehabilitation process of the runaway girls are not provided, the length of their stay in the centers can be extended based on the centers’ team of professionals’ decision.
Despite the provided reports by the officials on the activities of the State Welfare Centers, experts believe that the centers have not only been unable to provide the required facilities quantity-wise, but have not been able to provide a quality service either; the quality of a lot of the provided services have been criticized. Even that whether the required minimum behavioral standards towards children is meet in these centers is in question, and sometimes the centers themselves have violated the Children’s Rights while the girls’ conditions in these centers were never investigated by the official authorities. According to an official and published report, the complaints against the cruel and inhumane behavior towards the girls in one of the State Welfare centers in Zanjan fell on deaf ears and were never investigated (27).
In such conditions, staying in The State Welfare Organization centers endangers the girls’ physical and psychological health while sending them back to their homes could also lead to their fleeing again, being back on the streets, and prostituting themselves and stealing things. Such girls have been ignored in the Child Protection Law (2002).
{{7) Prostitution}}
It was only in 2006 when some officials and researchers announced the estimate number of prostitutes in Iran to be about 300,000. Right then, researchers also warned against the decline in the age range of the prostitutes. Subsequent studies indicated that of the 6053 street women who had been jailed in the country, the girls between the age of 12 to 25 were the majority (28). In a recent research by The Ministry of Health, out of 200 prostitutes, 100 had HIV/AIDS (29). The latest official reports show that prostitution age in the country starts from 12, and this means a reduction in the prostitution age by 10 years (30). Despite of this issue, there are no organizations which consider themselves in charge of attending to these girls and women’s’ conditions. This is when more than 60 % of these street women have been sexually abused as children, and when 70% of these abuses were done by either their fathers or stepfathers (31).
{{B) The Laws Rules and Regulations on Violence Against Girls}}
In this part of the report, we only discuss those rules and regulations that have a determining role in the production and reproduction of violence against girls, and in the promotion of negative clichés and violent approaches, which have been confirmed as such by the researches and legal experts in the field.
{{1) The Constitution}}
Based on Article 20 of the constitution, “all citizens of the country, both men and women, equally enjoy the protection of the law and enjoy all human, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic criteria.” Also article 21 of the constitution has obliged the government to “ensure the rights of women in all respects, in conformity with Islamic criteria”, by creating “a favorable environment for the growth of woman’s personality and the restoration of her rights, both the material and intellectual”, and by “protect[ing] mothers” and establishing “competent courts to protect and preserve the family”. However the phrase “in conformity with Islamic criteria” has provided the excuse for the government to justify all the discriminations, oppression and neglect women have been experiencing for years.
As of the country’s general policy document, which has been prepared and approved as a charter, the Women’s Legal Rights and Responsibilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran is a legal document that will referenced in this report. The charter of Women’s Rights and Responsibilities, suggested by the Women’s Cultural and Social Council, was ratified by the Guardian Council and accepted as legislation in 2006. From the beginning, those who drafted that charter claimed that it could replace an international treaty like the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Despite all of this, although this legislation stipulates the immunity of women’s rights to their lives, assets, dignity, and privacy from any form of illegal invasions, the actual execution of this legislation has been directly related to the general and religious laws.
{{2) Civil Law}}
Gender-based discrimination in Iranian civil law is one of the issues that women’s rights activists have been making tireless efforts to change for years. Some aspects of the law that facilitate violence against girls are as follows.
{{2-1) The Marriage of Underage Girls with the Permission of the Legal Guardian}}
According to the Article 1041 of the Civil Law, the legal age for marriage is 13 for girls, but the father and the paternal grandfather of a child have the legal right to have their daughter married to anyone they choose. In 2002, the law was modified by the Expediency Council. Based on the modified version of the law, the above-mentioned legal permission to have a daughter married before the age of 13 and a son before the age of 15 is only granted if it is decided by a competent court that it is in the interest of the child. But even this modification is for cases in which the daughter goes to court and makes a complaint.
Therefore, forced marriages, which can lead to physical and mental torture, and which can even endanger girls’ lives, is legally permitted. On the other hand, according to Article 1043 of The Civil Law, a virgin, even if she has reached an passed the legal age, cannot get married without the permission of her father or paternal grandfather. In other words, even if a girl is 30 years old and is virgin, a lawyer for example, she cannot choose her future husband, and her marriage will not be registered in any of the notary public offices.
The latest legal proposal (which has not been passed yet) is Article 51 of the family protection bill. Contrary to the Article 1041 of Civil Law that prohibits marriage before the legal age of 13 for girls, this article (51) states that if a man marries a child girl who is under the legal marriage age, he will be sentenced to six months to two years in prison. If the marriage leads to a permanent injury or illness for the child, the husband will be sentenced to two to five years in prison in addition to paying Di’yeh( money paid as compensation for the injury occurred). If the marriage leads to the child’s death, the Husband will be sentenced to 10 year in prison and paying the blood money (Di’yeh) .
Although on the surface this article is assigning penalties for the cases of sexual and physical violence towards women, and aside from fundamental problems it has, the legislator has allowed exceptions for cases of marriage before the legal age, which means that the age of marriage can even drop below the legal age. Also, the legislator has neglected the girls’ psychological and emotional damages and has only considered maiming or causing permanent illnesses as the results of sexual and physical violence. Article 50 of the bill has also reduced the penalty for the marriage registry officer and other people who aid and abet the crime, and the father, who might have been a participant in committing this crime, will be paid the Diyeh money (33).
2-2) Men as the Legal Head of the Family and The Child’s Custody
Article 1105 of Civil Law says that in regards to the relationship between a husband and a wife; being the head of the family is the exclusive right of the husband. According to the articles 1180 and 1181, either the father or paternal grandfather has the right to the legal guardianship of the children. Even in the absence of both of them in case of their death, the mother doesn’t get the custody rights of her children. Therefore, the father and the paternal grandfather are the only decision makers in a child’s life affairs, examples of which could be all financial affairs, and even a medical decision for a surgery. According to Article 1169 of the Civil Law, a mother can have the custody of children only until they are seven, and after that they should stay with their fathers. In case of disagreements over the custody rights, the decision can only be made by the court and based on the interest of the child. However, considering the judges patriarchal beliefs, in most cases they rule in favour of the men. Also, if a woman gets married while she has the custody of the children, the father automatically gets the custody rights. This article is a clear example of legalised psychological violence against women, another example of which is prohibiting women from working or continuing their education without their husbands’ consent.
{{3) The Islamic Penal Code}}
The Islamic Penal Code consists of sexual discriminatory elements, which, like others, result in violence against young girls. The following cases are some examples:
{{3-1) The Father’s Legal Guardianship over the Children}}
According to Article 220 of the Islamic penal code, if a father or a paternal grandfather kills their children, they will not be prosecuted for murder, and will only be sentenced to paying blood money to the inheritors of the deceased, and to some sort of punishment. But a similar crime by the mother will be treated like an ordinary murder. Despite protests made by a host of lawyers and women rights activists, the article is remained unchanged and it is recognized by the legislator as a shari’a-based law. This article is referred to by the judges in child abuse cases, honour killing and incest to issue a verdict and have significant influence on not punishing the father.
{{3-2) The Age of Criminal Responsibility}}
The age of puberty is determined 9 for girls and 15 for boys, which shows an unreasonable difference. While a judicial procedure has been established to prevent the marriage of girls under the age of 13, the courts usually and quickly attend to the parent’s request for a growth certificate of their girls, which makes forced marriage of young girls possible.
In the current Iranian law, the minimum age of criminal responsibility for a child is the age of full criminal responsibility. According to the Article 49 of the Islamic Penal Code approved in 1991, a child, if found guilty of a crime, is exempt of criminal liability. The Note 1 of the article 1210 of Civil Law amended in 1991 defines a child as someone before the age of puberty based on Shari’a law. In fact, the age of criminal responsibility for boys is 15 and for girls is nine (in lunar years). It means that as soon as a boy reaches the age of 15 (14 years and 7 solar months), and a girl the age of 9 (8 years and 9 months), she/he has the full criminal responsibility like an adult. Criminal responsibility is very important, especially regarding the penalties for serious crimes such as Ghesas(retaliated punishments) and Hodud . For instance, based on Article 257 of the penal code, the punishment for first degree murder is Ghesas, which would a death sentence in this case. Therefore, if a nine-year old girl commits a murder, she will be sentenced to death should the family of the victim refuse to forgive her. This is in contradiction with the international laws including Article 37 of the Child Protection Act and Article 6 of the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights.
The Islamic penal code bill, proposed by the judiciary in 2007, stipulates again that the puberty age for boys is 15 (full lunar years) and for girls 13. The important point is that in cases of rape, incest and adultery, the girls are recognized as criminals instead of victims. Based on this law, a nine-year- old girl, in term of committing a crime, which is the result of a mental and psychological process, is considered mature enough to distinguish wrong from right and to evaluate the outcome of her action, and therefore be punished for it (34).
{{3-3) Parent’s Legal Right to Punish the Child}}
According to the Children and Adolescent Protection Law, passed in 2002, individuals under the age of 18 are recognized as children and should benefit from the special protection that the law considers for them. Article 5 of that law recognizes child abuse as a public offence, for which the public prosecutor can make a case without the need for a plaintiff or a complaint. But given the father’s guardianship over the children based on Article 220 of the penal code, even if a father is guilty of the crime, the sentence, even though when the injuries of the child is physically obvious, is clouded with ambiguity. Based on Article 8 of the Children and Adolescent Protection Law, if the crimes subject to this law have been subject to the other laws as well, in which more severe sentences and penalties have been considered, the chosen sentence for the crime would be the heaviest among them (35). It is not clear then, considering the article 220 of the penal code, what the Had or Qesas punishment of a father would be.
Even though based on Article 4 of the Child Protection Law, any physical or psychological damage and/or torture, and any intentional negligence towards children’s mental and physical health & hygiene, and any decision on taking away their rights to education is prohibited, and while these are punishable by being sentenced to three to six months in jail or up to 10 million Rials cash penalty, physical punishment of the children by parents is still legal. According to Article 7 of this law, measures taken by parents to discipline or raise a child, while within the scope of article 59 of the Islamic Penal Code, ratified in 1991, and article 1179 of the Civil Code, approved in 1936, are exceptions to this law. Also, based on the article seven of the same law, article 59 of the Islamic Penal Code, and article 109 of the Civil Code, customary physical punishment of the child by the parents for the purpose of disciplining or correcting a wrongdoing is not recognized as a crime. It has been years that legal experts, sociologists, and social activists have been discussing on the limits and levels of physical punishment, but the law has never given a convincing response to it.
{{3-4) Murder in Adultery}}
Based on Article 630 of the Islamic Penal Code, if a man witnesses his wife having sex with another man, and the man is sure of his wife’s consent, he is entitled to kill his wife right on the spot. If the woman were forced to have sex, the husband is only entitled to kill the man. Cases of beating and sexual assault are treated likewise. Indeed, in this article the law has given the husband the permission to murder his wife in case of adultery. Although some legislators say that it is difficult to prove the offence in such cases, and that the determining factor is the wife’s consent, and it is the husband who has to prove that the case is adultery (rather than rape), this act paves the way for husbands’ violence against their wives. In fact, the law makers have left the critical responsibilities of arguing the cases of adultery to the husbands while arguing such cases in the Iranian judicial system is a complicated and difficult task.
{{C) The Iranian Governments’ Measures Against Violence Against Young Girls/ Women}}
On the basis of two international conventions and other documents related to the rights of children, the Iranian government is required to conform to the standards set by those conventions, and it is responsible to ensure the implementation of these rights by reforming discriminatory laws, by removing violent gender-based penalties, and by complying with the right to life and the law on prohibition of torture. Moreover, the government is required to pass the necessary laws to charge those who commit violence, to establish organizations to support the victims, and to fight against the cultural and social elements resulting in violence against young girls, an example of which is to launch campaigns to raise awareness.
For example, based on article 3 of Convention on the Rights of the Child, parents and legal guardians are obliged to consider the best interest of the children before making any decision. Based on the convention, the governments are even required to undertake the responsibilities of those parents who fail to support or protect their children. In many countries, the states have established child care centers to look after the children whose parent fail to provide the required care and protection they need.
On the other hand, article 19 of the convention obliges the states that ratify the convention to protect children against physical and psychological violence and any exploitation or neglect by introducing necessary legal, social and educational measures. The states that ratify the convention are required to ensure children’s protection from illegal and psychedelic drugs and drug trafficking. Article 37 of the convention clearly stipulates that no child should be subjected to torture, cruel treatment, and unlawful detention, and that execution or life imprisonment cannot be used as possible sentences if they commit an offence when they are below 18.
{{But what actions has the Iranian government taken to undertake its obligations toward young girls protect and support them in the cases they socially damaged?}}
In 2002, the Iranian state passed the Child Protection law, and paid special attention to child abuse. However, the law still refused to appoint a penalty for parents who use customary physical punishment on their children. Also, there is an ongoing negotiation on the bill of Children and Adolescent’s Crime. Article 2 of the Child Protection law states that children are exempt from criminal liabilities, but it immediately adds that a child is a person who is under the age of puberty based on the Islamic Laws (37). In any case, this law lacks provisions for gender issues and the vulnerabilities of young girls, particularly because it fails to engage in the debates over unequal treatment of coming of age in girls and boys in the Islamic Penal Law. The only significant part of this law is Note 1 of Article 7 that mentions if the accused is a girl, it is necessary to have a woman consultant in the court sessions.
Recently, the National Child’s Right Authority is established in the judiciary system of Iran. Years after the establishment of Convention on the Rights of the Child, during which no authority took any responsibility for children’s affair and the implementation of the obligations ratified in the convention, finally the National Child’s Authority is established. According to Note 5 of the article which recognizes Iran’s membership in the convention (ratified in 1991), the responsibilities of the National Authority is entrusted to the Ministry of Justice for its trans-institutional state in the government.
This national authority engages with all of the institutions and authorities that are involved with children’s rights and co-ordinates and organizes their movements and activities. Secretariat of Convention of the Right of child is also established in the ministry of Justice for the first time. Also, it is declared that one of the programs of the current year is to provide a periodical report for the UN. This report, which is read in the UN every 5 years, focuses on improvements in securing the right of children (38).
According to a Cabinet decision, The State Welfare Organization is the main body responsible to support socially harmed or vulnerable women and young girls, and to deal with the problems with which these people struggle. This organization has three departments; prevention, rehabilitation and social affairs. The issue of violence is not even considered as the responsibility of the department of the prevention of social damages. However, in the department of social affairs, a Women Family and Socially-harmed Office is appointed, which only deals with domestic violence. The main activities of this office are focused on interventions, and the target group is the victims of violence; these activities are as follows: (39)
– Establishing centers for temporary accommodation of women in all of Iran’s provinces. Each center can accommodate only 20 women for a three-month period.
– Establishing Intervention Center for Crisis in all provinces, which have been active since 1378.They mainly serve the girls under 18 who flee from home and those who have been or may be subjected to social harm or child abuse. Temporary accommodations of between 20 to 40 days are available at these Centers. If necessary, the subjects would be offered to Women Accommodation Centers afterwards.
– Since 2004, Mobile Social Services, aiming to identify women in crisis, have started their activities in only a few capitals of provinces.
– The emergency line 123, which can partly reflect the report on child abuse.
All these activities are valuable in their own respect, but there is no report available to show that the activities of the State Welfare Organization has been evaluated by either internal groups from the organization or external groups of experts from outside. As there is no statistics or assessment of the level of services provided to the victims, especially to the young victims of violence, it is not possible to attain a clear view of the quality and the quantity, or the needs and weaknesses of the provided services. Furthermore, the staff of these centers and organizations does not receive any special training in relation to gender-based violence or sensitive women issues (40).
Most activities in relation to domestic violence have been done by the Ministry of Health. Some of the most important one of them are the preparation of preventative and controlling programs on domestic violence as part of their educational and health improvement programs, the provision of mental and physical hygiene services, and the establishment of reproductive rights networks for youth fertility hygiene/ fertility rights and gender rights. All of these activities have been done in collaboration with the UN Population Fund. But the activities of this network were ceased after Ahmadinejad’s government took office, and it was as a result of their negative views on reproductive rights and puberty hygiene programs. The more important point is that the focus of the activities was mainly on the subject of domestic violence and spousal abuse. Also, there was no general evaluation of the programs, and the scattered activities were based on the personal tastes and managerial decisions (41).
But another important institute is the Center of Women’s and Families’ Affair, which has not provided any reports of its activities on the subject of violence against young girls, domestic violence in general, or child abuse during Ahmadinejad’s presidency. This center has also refused any information or cooperation for the research project on the government and non-government organizations’ activities in relation to controlling domestic abuse. It needs to be noted that the same centre during Khatami’s presidency did some sporadic activities in the area of domestic violence. One of these activities was the establishment of the Domestic Violence Eradication Committee, which was mainly active in the field of educational and research projects, and which was canceled for numerous reasons.
The Commission of Children and Women Protection in the judicial system, which was working on a national project on violence against women, were dissolved due to radical views on the subject.
Studies on the Ministry of Education’s programs shows that the ministry has failed in taking proper measures even in the field of equal access to education for all. Apart from some limited activities, during Khatami’s presidency, in training women consultants on the subject of violence against women, the center has not taken any actions against violence against young girls. During The Conservatives’ period, the Bureau of Women Affairs in the ministry of education were intensely working on the promotion of housekeeping roles for women, and on changing the textbooks’ content to have a focus on women’s housekeeping responsibilities and even encouraging early marriages. But what is mainly observed in the study of governmental organizations activities is the lack of cooperation among different internal sections of an organization. This is something that has been repeatedly referred to as a general shortcoming in many of the researches done on the subject.
All the measures taken in different organizations, if they can be referred to as actual measures, were only in the field of domestic violence. These measures—even during the Reformists’ period– neither led to a country-wide program to combat gender-based violence, nor created an institutionalized mechanism against it. Although according to the 4th Five National Development Plan and based on article 111, the government is required to take preventive measures and plan for legal actions to eliminate violence against women, but no plan has been developed and no official report on its implementation has been provided. Ironically, violence against young girls has intentionally been ignored in a way that even gathering information and figures faces many difficulties in this period. In the 5th Five National Development Plan, only the housewives’ insurance issue has been emphasized (article 46) as one of the future government plans( as a way of revering the sacred task of housewives). Also, in article 47 measures for facilitating youth’s marriage, the consolidation of the family structure, and the establishment of advisory centers has been noted. (42).
{{D) Iran’s Obligations Based on International Documents on Human Right}}
Human rights are universal moral values that are obligatory and legally binding within the frameworks of international documents. In spite of challenging traditions in one hand and intimating the politicians and fundamentalists on the other, human rights is increasingly expanding and flourishing. We decide not to examine concepts such as justice and equality, which can be subject to interpretations and controversies and in turn throw us down the path of some disputes of the theology theorists who claim that biological differences lead to different rights and responsibilities that should be the basis for justice and the definition of equality. But despite making that decision, a glance at the obligations presented in human rights documents suffices to say that all the rights and responsibilities contained thereof, such as the right to life, prohibition of torture, freedom of speech, free choice of employment, and freedom in marriage, are to be respected, legally binding, and recognized for all individuals regardless of age and gender, without discrimination, and free of any classification. All of these rights have been recognized as inherent rights without any discrimination. In addition, some of these rights are among the basic rights and freedoms since they are the minimum requirements for attaining other rights, and achieving them creates the foundation to yet more rights.
Considering that the mere utilization of the language of human rights for the protection of women is not enough, in the Vienna conference of 1933 the “women human rights” was stipulated (43). But even in the framework of this set of rights, the principle of existential commonality of women and men in their being human, and the principle of equality of all humans in enjoying the basic human rights can lead us to interpretations of the accomplishments or the absence of women’s right, and especially their basic rights.
In fact, regulations contained in conventions and international documents protecting human rights, including women’s rights, have practical functions because they are based on our experiences and are useful means to achieve certain results. These regulations and standards enable us to demand certain behaviors, especially from the government and in different areas, and they also demand the necessary political and social guarantees for the protection of individuals of the society, including women, from the government. But to implement the laws effectively, there is a need for positive actions, as well as restricting measures by the government. For instance, the right to indiscrimination in the first glance may be conceived as nothing more than refraining from discrimination whereas in fact in many instances, it requires pervasive and costly interventions by the government. So if individuals are to be protected against discrimination, the mere restraint or prohibition by the government will not suffice. Article 2 of The Human Right Declaration, paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Economic, Cultural and Social Right Convention refer to prohibiting discrimination. Also, based on the Convention on Civil and Political Rights, governments should respect the “inherent right to life” (Article 6), the law on the prohibition of torture and all other cruel and inhuman behavior ( Article 7) , the right to “be equal before the courts and tribunals” (Article 14), the law on the prohibition of “slavery, and the slave-trade in all their forms” (Article 8 ), The child’s right to protection (Article 24), and the right for everyone to be “equal before the law” and to be “entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law” (Article 26).
To understand the governments’ obligations from a different point of view, we have to pay attention to the concept of commitment to results and the concept of commitment to the means or behaviors, which was discussed in Article 20 and 21 on the study of governments’ responsibilities by the International Law Commission. These two concepts are interrelated, meaning that the commitment to results does necessarily include the commitment to the required behaviors. Therefore, the commitment to respect, support and implementation of the intended rights include the commitment to both results and behavior (44). It is also said that there are differences between governments’ commitments in relation to civil and political rights, or economic, social and cultural rights. This means that achieving latter rights requires governments’ intervention as well as financial and material support, which may entail some constraints. But civil and political rights can only be achieved if the government does not interfere. However, to achieve even these rights, the supportive intervention of the government is needed. In addition, the governments’ commitment requires respect, support and the achievement of full realization of those rights. Regarding the commitment to respecting the rights, the government is required to avoid interfering in people’s freedom. In regards to the governments’ commitment to support, they are obliged to prevent others from interfering. And in the commitment to the full realization of the rights, the government is obliged to take necessary measures to provide the contents of the rights (45). These obligations, specifically in regards to the rights to life, and the prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading behaviors, which are both the basic rights and the political and civil rights, require more serious and responsible actions by the governments.
The Iranian government’s policy to synchronize itself with the international society has changed a lot. In the early years after the revolution, interactions with the international society have been negatively influenced by revolutionary politics, fight against imperialism, and war-related crisis (Iran-Iraq) so much so that the offer to withdraw from international conventions was put forward. But after the war, the open door policies prepared the ground for reconsideration of international subjects, and the government made efforts, although futile, to join international documents such as Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Convention against Torture in order to show its good will. In recent years though, government policies have been based on pessimism, and they also included confrontational elements and examples in them. Only in the field of women’s rights, the approval of the Rights and Responsibilities of Women Law has been considered as a step to providing a general document for the international community. It was prepared by pro-government hotline groups and has been considered as equal to CEDAW. All of these have been examples of the challenges that women’s rights activists have faced during their decades of struggle for the advancement of women’s rights in accordance with the international standards and Human Rights.
The Iranian government has signed or is a party of only a few international documents. The only international documents signed by the government and related to our discussion are The Universal Human Rights Declaration, International Convention of Civil and Political Rights, International Convention of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Children Rights Convention, and Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor .
Although the most important document is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the approval of the pact, even by keeping the overall right of reservation, because of getting caught in the middle of religious and political disputes and conflicts of the conservatives and fundamentalists, is still shrouded with ambiguity. More than anything else, it has been treated with biased and misogynist responses. In the present condition of Iran, and the present government’s approaches, there is no hope for the pact to be signed. Joining the Prohibition of Torture Pact, despite being drafted as a bill and presented in the Reformists’ majority Parliament, is still uncertain due to the objection to it by the Guardian Council. As mentioned above, Iran has signed the Beijing Conference Document, the 12th paragraph of which is focused on young girls. Iran has reported to the conference twice so far. Being a signatory member of even a few international documents entails obligations and duties for the Iranian government, which should involve both practical commitment to the principles and rules in the form of punitive measures, and the obligations to the positive and encouraging measures.
{{CONCLUSION}}
Violence against young girls in Iran has been largely neglected despite its painful consequences for the children as a result of the violation of their basic human rights, be it through the legal violations or through discriminatory cultural approaches.
A glance at cases of violence against young girls, and a review of civil and criminal rules and regulations in Iran showed that;
a) on the one hand the hidden violence in laws, seen as severe and cruel penalties, has not provided the context for the reduction in crime, and has created the basis for a rise in crimes through the reproduction of violence and torturous and humiliating behaviors (recognized by the Human rights standards).
b) On the other hand, gender- based violent discrimination has been legally institutionalized, which has become the means for the judiciary system and other governmental institutions to impose more discrimination and violence, and has created the context to facilitate violence in families and society.
The strongly discriminatory and patriarchal views, crystallized in the Iranian law, not only violate the principle of prohibition of discriminations mentioned in international documents but also mar women’s right of life, security and human dignity, and cause the torturous and cruel punishment of them.
The discriminatory laws that the government and other institutions make an effort to strengthen and endorse, citing the Islamic laws, make the government and its approaches, more than any other institution, the main violators of the right of life and the prohibition of gender-based discrimination. And these are obligations the government is supposedly obliged to take measures for their implementation. So it is essentially redundant to say that discriminatory social and cultural procedures are not under the jurisdictions and action range of the government since the law itself makes a significant contribution to the creation and enhancement of these discriminatory conducts. In fact, no matter how hard the government tries, because of the discriminatory and violent laws, it is not possible to create and establish fair and equal relations in the family and society, and it would be impossible to eradicate violence against young girls. This is because the laws play an important role in creating culture and cultural and customary approaches.
There is no regular system of gathering information and providing statistical data, and the occasional information that gets published is the result of the woman’s rights activists or Children’s right activist, which has been published only on the non-government websites and papers. This is generally true in the cases of violence against women. There are no gender sensitive educational courses or programs to inform and educate judges on the subject. The victims of child abuse and incest rape are not only sent back to their homes, the crime scene, but are also easily penalized by the judges because they ( the judges) are unaware of the Children’s rights and the physical and psychological issues in relation to these cases.
Although the subject of providing Safe Homes for the victims of violence were brought up in Khatami’s presidency term, it was strongly opposed by many of the officials then. Therefore, the only centers available to provide support for these victims are the Women Accommodation Centers , and the Intervention Centers in Crisis, who themselves are facing numerous unanswerable questions by the children and/or women rights activists.
Also, of the main ways to reduce gender-based violence are to change the society’s view, to sensitize the society to the negative consequences of violence, and to denounce violence strongly. But not only these measures have not been taken, but also Ahmaninejad’s government have been encouraging violence against young girls, specially by encouraging early marriages, and by the Family Protection bill and its article 51, which officially recognizes underage marriages. Meanwhile, the activities of NGOs focusing on women and children issues, who can have an important influence in the society by launching educational campaigns and creating general sensitivities on the related issues, have been either banned or greatly restricted.
In fact, the government has violated its obligations to the provision of positive approaches based on Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Child Rights Convention, International Labor Organization Convention, and Beijing Platform. These violations have been done by not legislating the required and effective laws to prevent violence against girls, by not showing the will to fight against the social and cultural elements resulting in the creation and consolidation of dangerous traditional gender-based violent approaches, and by lack of any planning in these regards. The violations done by the government require special attention of the international human and women rights organizations in order to make urgent remedies to enforce the governments obligations for the implementation of their commitments. The studies, programs, and policies that have officially been conducted, prepared and perused, especially in the recent years, to reinforce family institution or to reduce social harm have only been a vicious circle of violence against and oppression of women and girls, without any real intention of changing the inequalities for the benefit of women.
{Prepared by: A Group of Women’s Rights Activists
Presented at: United Nation’s 55th Session on Women’s Status, Feb 22 – March 4, 2011, New York}
{{FOOTNOTES}}
1. National Survey on Domestic Violence in 28 provinces, Center for Women’s participation in cooperation with Interior Ministry, 1996-2001. The findings of the study was later announced confidential.
2. Dr. Shahla Ezazi, Violence Against Girls , 15 years after a global action against violence, where do we stand? Nov 4, 2010
3 .The disturbing increase in child abuse cases, Sep 5, 2009 http://www.khabaronline.ir/news-16322.aspx
4. Child Abuse, The hidden crime in the tradition maze , July 9 , 2009
5. The disturbing increase in child abuse cases, Sep 5, 2009
http://www.khabaronline.ir/news-16322.aspx
6. Reporting cases of Child Abuse in private medical offices http://www.tabnak.ir/fa/news/109210
7. Reporting cases, Ibid.
8. The Women Trafficking Still Continues Oct 7, 2008 http://www.1millionchange.info/spip.php?article2956
9. Women and Children trafficking and the legal strategies against it, With financial support of Center for Women’s Participation , and the presentation of Leila Asadi 2002
10. The rountable on domestic violence in Iran from legal and health point of view http://fairfamilylaw.in/spip.php?article1885
11. The Women Trafficking Still Continues Oct 7, 2008 http://www.1millionchange.info/spip.php?article2956
12. Parvin Bakhtiyar Nejad , The Silent Disaster, Honor Killing , P. 25
13. The Suicide Statistics are Still Confidential, An Interview with Parvin Bakhtiyar Nejad , Nasim Soltanbeigy
Nov 21, 2010 , Shargh Newspaper, number 1116 date Nov 20, 2010 , Page 11 ( Society )
14. The Numbers of Suicides and Self-immolation Is Higher in Deprived Provinces http://iscanews.ir/fa/ShowNewsItem.aspx
15. An interview with Parvin Bakhtiar Nejad, Leila Asadi, 20 January 2011
16. Parvin bakhtianejad, Honor Killing, silent disaster, pp53-4
17. Mohsen Maljou,Feminist Approach to the Family Contexts Incest Rape, Nov(2011)
18- Refers to the statistics provided in an article titled Incest Phenomenon in Resalat Newspaper http://www.haghgostar.com/ShowPost.aspx?ID=262
19- “Incest Phenomenon” in Resalat Newspaper, Ibid
20- Interview with Mohesen Maljou, a Researcher on Incest Rape, Dec 2010
21- Nasrin Sotudeh’s Report to the round table on Child Abuse, The website of Focus On Iranian Women
22- Maljou, op.cit, p.9
23-Elnaz Mohammadi, Warning: Runaway girls are at risk. http://www.womenrc.ir/index.php
24- Runway girls are raped within the first 24 hours, Dec 2006
http://www.salamatnews.com/ViewNews
25-Jelveh Javaheri, A Survey On Reason of Domestic Violence in Iran
26 Uncertain Statistics of Runaway Girls, http://www.fardanews.com/fa/news/100283/
27 Rahmatollah Bigdeli, The story of human Branding of three children in Mehr Welfare Organiztion of Zanjan, Bahar-e Janzan weekly, Vol.268, Summer 2009,
28- Street Women, a Problem which can be seen now, Oct 2011 http://212.224.124.210/news-102922.aspx
29- Houriyeh Shamshiri, A Report on Domestic Violence against Women Round Table for The Global Week of Eradication of Violence against Women , Nov.2010
To see the family law, please look at: www.familylaw.irangenderequality.com/spip.php?article1885
30- Why Street Women become Street Women ? Oct, 2011
http://www.tabnak.ir/fa/news/128966
31- Street Women, Victims of Parents Social Disorders http://www.iranzanan.com/news/cat_21/000390.php
32- Shahin dokht Moularoudi, A Survey on the Law of Women Rights and Responsibilities of Iran and Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Convention, presented for United Nation Population Fund, Dec 2011-02-19
33- Shahin dokht Moula roudi, Family Protection Bill and Encouraging Violence against Young Girls http://www.tebyan-zn.ir/News-Article/zanan
34- Houriyeh Shamshiri, Op.cit.
.
35- Mehdi Seyyed zadeh, and Et-al, Child Abuse from Reasoning to Solving, The Center of Development of Judicial Studeis, Khorsandi Publishing, First Edition, 2011, pp193-4
36-Investigating and analyzing the Rules, Regulations, and experiences of Courts in Controlling Gender-based Violence, Director : Jaleh Shaditalab, Researcher: Leila Sadat Asadi, UNFPA, June 2006, P.131
37. The bill on Youth and Adolescent Crime , Passed March 7 2005, Cabinet Meeting, Published by Office of Parliamentary rules
38. Report on the Activities of CRC in the Islamic republic of Ian, August 30, 2010, The Website of Iran’s Judiciary System Human Rights http://www.humanrights-iran.ir/news-17241.aspx
39. The study of Government and non-government Organizational Activities in Controlling Domestic Violence, Jaleh ShadiTalab, UNFPA, June 2006, P.131
40 Full Text of Fifth Development Plan Act
http:tbzmed.ac.ir/news/tose.htm
41 Farideh Shayagan, United Nation System and Women’s Right, Foreign Policy Journal, Vol.4, 1374(1995),pp871-76
42 Farideh Shaygan and et-al, Enhancement of international co-operation in Human Rights. The Center of Advanced International Studies affiliated to University of Tehran, 1382(2003),p.27
43 Syyed Mohammad Ghari Syyed Fatemi, Human Rights In Contemporary World: Income to Theoretical Discussions, Organization of Law Research and Studies, Second Edition, 1388(2009), p.p47-8
44Paragraph (1) of Art (4) of Civil and Political Convention says: the right of life is human’s genuine right and shall be supported by law. No one shall be deprived of its life arbitrarily without permission
45 Ibid,p.66
46Ibid,p.70