UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued his annual report expressing deep concerns over widespread and flagrant human rights violations and a wave of executions in Iran. UN General Assembly Resolution 69/190 calls on the Secretary-General to report the advances made in this regard
(human rights in Iran) to the 70th annual UNGA session, and therefore the Secretary-General is currently presenting this report.
In this report the UN Secretary-General criticized Tehran for implementing the ruling of ‘qisas’ (retribution-in-kind) and high number of executions. Ban also accused Iran of violating women’s rights. This report reads in part on the situation of women:
Situation of women
The Islamic Penal Code gives husbands significant control over the lives of their wives and children. Article 630 allows a husband to kill his wife if she is caught committing adultery. The Secretary-General finds it regrettable that the proposed comprehensive population and exaltation of family bill (No. 315), currently under discussion by the parliamentary cultural affairs committee, could potentially expose women to increased risks of domestic violence.
The Secretary-General is concerned about the considerable increase in the number of laws and public policies that threaten the universally established standards on the rights of women, including freedom of movement, health and economic activity. The Secretary-General is also concerned at the restrictions imposed on access to justice for women and girls who have been subjected to violence, including marital rape.
According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the age of majority is 18 years. However, early marriage remains commonplace in the Islamic Republic of Iran, where the marriageable age for girls is 13 years. Furthermore, girls as young as 9 years of age may be married with permission from a court. The Law on the Protection of Children without Effective Caregivers even allows marriage between a legal custodian and his adopted daughter if a court deems it in the best interest of the child (see A/69/356, para. 40).
Between March 2012 and March 2013, more than 40,600 girls under 15 years of age were married. At least 1,537 of the marriages registered in 2012 involved girls under 10 years of age —a significant increase compared with previous years. The number of early marriages reportedly reached an all-time peak in 2013-2014. Recent statistics reveal that 201 girls younger than 10 years of age and more than 41,000 girls between 10 and 14 years of age were married during that period.
(Ahmed Shaheed website – September 27, 2015)
