UN Calls on Iran to Reform Criminal Laws and Marriage Regulations for Girls

A United Nations monitoring group states that Iran must reform laws leading to the marriage and punishment of child and adolescent girls. According to Reuters, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child stated on February 4 that 'Iran continues to punish children under 18 who commit crimes, which is contrary to international standards.' This recent report follows investigations by 18 members of the committee from Iran and 13 other countries. The committee noted that the situation is worse for girls, as they can be legally forced into marriage at the age of 9, despite the fact that Iranian laws set this age slightly higher at 13. The ages of 9 and 15 for girls and boys also apply to punishments that should be executed for adults, with the UN stating that this is even more 'discriminatory' for girls. International and supranational organizations have repeatedly warned about the imposition of punishments, especially the death penalty against children in Iran, and have urged Tehran to reform its laws. These requests have so far yielded no results. In some cases, Iran's judiciary has claimed that children under 18 are not executed, but activists and legal experts have rejected these statements. Amnesty International has also reported that dozens of offenders under 18 are currently awaiting execution in Iranian prisons. According to official statistics, thousands of teenage girls under the age of 15 are married. In some cases, published statistics indicate that marriages of girls under 18 account for one-third of all registered marriages. According to UN observers, Iran allows men to have sexual relations with 9-year-old girls, and various forms of child sexual abuse in Iran do not carry penalties. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed 'deep' concern regarding reports of an increase in forced marriages at the age of 10 or younger in Iran with significantly older men. The Iranian Civil Registration Organization stated in 2012 that at least 75 marriages under the age of 10 were registered in Tehran alone.