Iran Must Pass Legislation to Protect Women Against Violenceمجلس باید تصویب لایحه تامین امنیت زنان در برابر خشونت را در اولویت قرار دهد
NOVEMBER 23, 2018
Women with Disabilities and Other Vulnerable
Groups Face Heightened Risk of Abuse
November 23, 2018—The Iranian authorities must
bring legislation protecting women from domestic violence that has been
languishing for years to parliament and ratify it so that Iranian women can
have the protections against domestic violence required under international
law, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said today.
In a statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination
of Violence against Women, CHRI noted that women in Iran
are being subjected to serious and sometimes fatal domestic violence at
alarming rates without any effective means of protection, while the government
takes no effective action despite its obligations under international law to do
so.
Specifically, CHRI calls upon the Iranian
authorities to:
·
Engage Iranian civil society in a review of
domestic violence and an assessment of women’s needs, allowing individuals and
groups working on the issue of meaningful policy input.
·
Allocate more resources for the independent
study of domestic violence so that the dearth of information and data on the
subject is addressed.
·
Ensure the issues marginalized women face in
domestic violence, such as women from ethnic and religious minorities, refugee
and migrant women, women with disabilities and widows, are addressed.
“The Iranian authorities can take three months to arrest, sentence and execute an individual, but after
seven years they still cannot pass legislation to protect women’s lives,” said
Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI executive director.
Lack of Protection for Women Facing Domestic
Violence in Iran
Iran’s laws not only lack the necessary
protections against violence toward women but in some cases, exacerbate the
vulnerabilities of women to domestic abuse. For example, Iran’s Civil Code forbids a woman from leaving the matrimonial home without
the husband’s permission unless she is able and willing to go to court to prove
she is endangered.
This leaves Iranian women deeply vulnerable to
violence, including marital rape, especially given the requirement of
witnesses, the fact that a female witness’s testimony is worth half that of a
man’s, and the stipulation that if a woman leaves the marital home, she is not
subject to maintenance.
Numerous articles in the country’s Civil Code
effectively undermine protections for women against domestic violence. Article 1105
of Iran’s Civil Code states, “In relations
between husband and wife, the position of the head of the family is the
exclusive right of the husband.” Article 1108 states, “If the wife refuses to fulfill the duties of a wife
without a legitimate excuse, she will not be entitled to the cost of
maintenance.” And Article 1114 states, “The wife must stay in the dwelling that the husband
allots for her unless such a right is reserved to the wife.”
Moreover, fundamental perceptions of domestic
violence in Iran heighten women’s vulnerabilities. “Many female victims of
violence, even those who have eventually died as a result of domestic violence,
have been ignored by the police because domestic violence is not considered a
crime,” said a women’s rights advocate in an interview with the website Meydan.
“The police have treated these cases as public
battery and urged the women to go back home and face their abuser.”
The lack of standard mechanisms to prevent
contact between abusers and victims after domestic violence has occurred has led
to tragic incidents in Iran. One of the latest was the murder of a
young woman by her brother in a hospital in Ahvaz,
in southwest Iran, in October 2018. The victim had been hospitalized for being
stabbed by the brother but he was not prevented from having access to her
because there are no laws for issuing restraining orders.
Bill Has Languished for Years
The Bill for the
Protection of Women against Violence, originally begun seven years
ago under then-president Ahmadinejad, was drafted and sent to the judiciary by
the Rouhani administration in early 2017 for review, as is routine for any
legislation that is primarily legal or judicial in nature. The judiciary
significantly diluted the bill, removing 40 of the original 91 articles, and
sent it to Iran’s judiciary head, Sadeq Larijani, for approval.
Yet in October 2018 it was announced that Larijani had sent the legislation to Qom for review by
Shia religious leaders there—which is not required under any Iranian law—with
no clear timetable for review or approval. Moreover, the clerical review in Qom
is taking place despite the fact that the Islamic Republic’s Guardian Council
is already required to review all legislation for compliance with Islamic law.
“The clerics in Qom are sitting on this legislation
while women are being murdered,” said Ghaemi. “The indifference the government
is showing toward the well-being of half the population is cruel and unlawful.”
“Iranian officials need to stop stalling and
bring the legislation out of Qom and into the hands of parliament as is normal procedure
and the bill should proceed toward ratification,” Ghaemi added.
Violence against Women Widespread and
Under-Reported in Iran
Statistics on the extent of violence against
women in Iran vary but consistently indicate the severity and extent of the
problem. One national
study carried out in 2004 indicated two out of three women have
experienced violence at least once during marriage. A May 2017 study by a prominent Iran-based charity found 32 percent of
Iranian women in urban areas and 63 percent in rural areas have experienced
some form of domestic violence. Other Iranian academic
studies have indicated the rate may be much higher. In addition,
significant under-reporting is highly likely given that victims of domestic
violence are pressured to keep silent about their experiences.
Lack of Protections for Women Violates
International Law
Iran is one of six countries in the world
which has not yet ratified the Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Nevertheless,
Iran’s commitments under other international conventions require the government
to take clear steps to prevent violence against women.
The delay in ratifying laws to prevent
violence against women and punish abusers is a violation of Iran’s
international obligations (which require governments to adopt such measures)
under the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
Violence against women is considered a form of
discrimination and in violation of Articles 3 and 26 of the ICCPR and Article 3
of the ICESCR, as well as Article 3 of the CRPD.
Also, violent behavior can be in violation of
other ICCPR articles, including the right to life mentioned in Article 6, the
prohibition of torture, cruelty and inhuman and degrading conduct that leads to
physical and mental harm as noted in Article 7, as well as the denial of
personal freedom and security in Article 9 and the violation of privacy in
Article 17.
In addition, violence against women can be in
violation of the ICESCR’s Article 12 regarding sexual and reproductive rights,
and freedom of employment in Article 6 and the right to education in Article
13.
Women with Disabilities Especially Vulnerable
to Domestic Abuse
Articles 6 and 16 of the CRPD call on
governments to acknowledge the existence of multiple discriminations against
women with disabilities and take the necessary steps to protect them against
violence and abuse.
None of the Rouhani administration officials,
including the president’s advisers on women and family affairs as well as those
in the judiciary and the legislature, have made any comment on the need for
particular protections for the most vulnerable groups of women, such as those
with disabilities.
In the UN Secretary
General’s 2017 report on the Situation of Women and Girls with Disabilities, it stated, “Women and girls with disabilities experience
gender-based violence at disproportionately higher rates and in unique forms
owing to discrimination and stigma based on both gender and disability.
For instance, women and girls with disabilities experience domestic violence at
twice the rate of other women and they also experience forms of violence
specifically because of their disability, including isolation, violence in
institutions and the withholding of medication and mobility, vision and hearing
aids.”
Women with disabilities also face other issues
that increase their vulnerability to domestic abuse—as well as their
difficulties in addressing it if it has occurred. For example, the justice
system is highly inaccessible to persons with disabilities, there is a serious
lack of relevant training among law enforcement and judicial officials and the
system is ill-equipped to address communication barriers for persons with disabilities,
and persons with disabilities are often dependent on caregivers that could also
be their abusers.
No comments:
Post a Comment