A Member of Parliament: Over One Million Stateless Children in Iran Will Be Organized

The spokesperson for the Judicial and Legal Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly pointed to the "identity crisis and welfare issues" facing stateless children, stating that the Parliament intends to "organize" nearly one million and one hundred thousand stateless children. According to ILNA news agency, Hassan Norouzi announced this on Tuesday, September 4, regarding the latest status of the bill granting Iranian citizenship to stateless children born from the marriages of Iranian women to foreign men. Mr. Norouzi added that the law related to organizing the status of these children was "approved" in the ninth Parliament, "but since there were issues regarding the type of implementation and how citizenship was granted, it was halted." He elaborated on these "problems" to ILNA, saying: "In the law approved by the ninth Parliament, for example, it was emphasized that to grant citizenship, a letter must be obtained from the relevant government stating that citizenship will not be granted to this citizen, so that we do not face the issue of both governments granting citizenship to one person, which disrupted the implementation process." The spokesperson for the Judicial Commission also noted the Iranian Constitution's stipulation that "every citizen should have only one citizenship," adding: "Since other governments also do not declare that they will not grant citizenship to a certain citizen, problems have arisen for these individuals." Mr. Norouzi warned about the problems and harms faced by children born from the marriages of Iranian women to foreign men who lack identity, expressing hope that the government will send its reform bill to the Parliament as soon as possible to clarify the status of one million and one hundred thousand stateless children. According to this member of Parliament, although these children reside in Iran, due to their lack of citizenship and national identity and birth certificates, they will face "frustration" and "naturally encounter fundamental problems in accessing welfare facilities, including educational, medical, and social services." He also mentioned that the addition of these children to Iran's population after receiving Iranian birth certificates would create "costs" for the government. As he reported, if citizenship is granted to these one million and one hundred thousand children, "considering their social and economic status, the government will be obliged to provide subsidies to them, and in about a decade, these individuals will grow up and require jobs, marriage, and other social facilities." According to Hassan Norouzi, "after their marriages and childbirth, this population will increase several times, and we will likely face about five million new citizens." ILNA also reported that the bill "reforming the law determining the citizenship of children born from the marriages of Iranian women to foreign men" is currently under review in the government's legislative commission, and the preliminary stages of its preparation and approval have been completed. On July 11, the head of the International Committee of the Judicial Commission of the Parliament expressed regret that the identity status of children born from the marriages of Iranian women to foreign men "remains unresolved." According to IRNA news agency, Jalil Rahimi Jahangir Abadi stated in a meeting held on this topic in the Legal and Judicial Commission of the Parliament that "currently we are facing a very high number of children born from the marriages of Iranian women to foreign men in the country." The head of the Women's Council of Islamic Councils of the country in 2005 also stated that 32,000 stateless children born from the marriages of Mashhadi girls with foreign nationals, mainly Afghans, are facing an "unknown fate." He criticized that "the Islamic Republic entered the political arena with the slogan of supporting the underprivileged," yet these "poor and low-income women" as the "most needy citizens of the country" are not being supported.