Written Replies of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Written Replies of the Islamic Republic of Iran

to the List of Issues

1. The laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran do not conflict with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). According to Article 9 of the Civil Code,thetreaties which wereaccededin accordance with the constitutionareconsidered as domestic law. However, invoking domestic laws is more pervasive. Although the judges could invoke provisions of international conventions, they tend to judgeaccording to domestic laws and analyze them. Invoking the provisions of internationallegal documentsis not ordinary yet. Therefore,, the Judiciaryhas started to trainand acquaint its officers with the obligations arising from treaties under the International Convention to encourage them to invokethe provisions of international conventions along withthe existing domestic law.

Also, in accordance with Article 66 of the Code of Criminal Court,adopted in 2013,NGOs whosestatuteis defined on the protection of children and adolescents, women, persons with physical or mental disabilities, protection of environment, natural resources, cultural heritage, public health and protection of citizenship rights,mayfile/s charge against anybody for crimes committed in the above-mentioned fields and, in all stages of the proceedings and furtherparticipate and adduce evidence and object to the judgments of judicial authorities.

Note 1 - If a crime is committed againsta specific victim, his/herassent is essential to be acquired,under this Article. If the victim is a child, insane or an idiot in financial crimes, consent of the parent or legal guardian should be obtained.However, if the parent or legal guardians commit a crime themselves, thementioned organizations willtake the necessary measures by obtaining the consent of the Attorney General or temporary appointed guardian.

Note 2 - Justice Officers and the judicial authorities are obliged to informvictims of offenses of the subject matter about the assistance of the relevant non-governmental organizations.

Note 3 - Names of NGOs which may enforce this Article, is prepared in the first quarter of each year, by the Minister of Justice in cooperation with Interior Minister and approved by the Head of the Judiciary.

Endeavors by Members of the Parliament for lifting restrictions of candidacy of blinds in Parliament elections stands as an example action taken toinvoke the provisions of the Convention.

2. Accedingto the Optional Protocol to the Conventionon the Rights of Persons with Disabilitieshas not been taken into consideration yet. However, it could be taken into considerationin the future.

3. According to Article 2 of the 1969 Vienna Convention, States may issue a unilateral statement under any name or by any means at the time of signature, ratification, acceptance or accession to a treaty through which they can express their intention toward excluding or modifying the legal effects of certain provisions of the Treaty regarding themselves.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is established on the basis of the votes of the nation and Islamic criteria, and according to itsConstitution, all laws must be based on Islamic criteria. “This principle applies absolutely and generally to all Articles of the Constitution as well as to all other laws and regulations” (Principle 4 of the Constitution). According to Principle 125 of the Constitution, President or his legal representative has the authority to sign all international treaties after obtaining the approval of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (the parliament).Determining its compatibility with the Constitution and the Islamic criteria rests with the Guardian Council (Principle 96 of the Constitution). Therefore, due to the necessity of basing all laws and approvals of the Islamic Consultative Assembly onthe Islamic criteria and principles of the Constitution, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran shall notaccept commitments contrary to the Islamic principles and its domestic laws, when ratifying international treaties. On this basis, the Islamic Republic of Iran, when approving the International Treaty on the Right of People with Disabilities on December 3, 2008, considered it enforceable as long as there would be no contradiction between the Treaty’s provisions and Iran’s current legal standards.

Since the reservation abides by the country’sConstitution, itshall remain in force, as long as the law stands.

4. To align with the Comprehensive LegislationProtecting the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Iranian Government and NGOs have tabled a bill to the Parliament on reform of the Comprehensive Legislation onProtection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

In the amendment, a council, referred to as “theSupreme Council for Persons with Disabilities”is stipulated, whose role is to monitor performance of all organizations, including theState Welfare Organization, to revive the rights of people with disabilities.

Also, the Ratification No. 77303, dated September 6, 2015 was communicatedby the Council of Ministers to all executive organizations where the Coordinating Council of Persons with Disabilities, with the participation of representatives of disabled persons, have been defined.

At the highest level of governmental management, the State General Inspectorate, independent from the executive power, is supervising the proper enforcement of law and is responsible for monitoring performance of the Welfare Organization.

Moreover, at the Judiciary level, the Administrative Justice Court supervises the performance of the executive organizations as an upstream institution.

5. NGOs of disabled people are active in all decision makings related to persons with disabilities in the Welfare Organization. For instance, in the Department of RehabilitationAffairs of the Welfare Organization, an Advisory Council is established which is membered byrepresentatives of NGOsof persons with disabilities.By providing performance documents, NGO’s of disabled people may benefit from financial support of the organization.

Participation of disabled people associations in holding training programs, implementation ofempowermentprograms, collaboration in the implementation of community-based rehabilitation across the country and joint holding of various occasions, related to the disabled, are examples of the supportprovided to national associations of persons with disabilities and utilization of their capacity.

Also, the National Center for Associations of Persons with Disabilities, which has been established with free election as the representative of the associations of the whole country,plays the role of a connection betweenthe Welfare Organization and the non-governmental organizations active in the disabled affairsfor the codification of policies, reformation of laws, allocation of resourcesand etc.

The network of associations of the blindand the visually impaired, namely "Chavosh" was also founded with the support and approval of the Ministry of Interior and, as a representative association of the target group, was introduced to receive expert advice and national decision makings.

Additionally, in order to have more interaction with different groups, theMartyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation , attempted to form different groups based on the type of injury and disability, including veterans with spinal cord injury, two blind eyes, chemical injuries and etc, so that they can solve the majority of their problems through the advice they provide to the Foundation’s authorities on adaptation required to apply to regulations, budgets and equipment purchase policies.

Accordingly, a special center to support non-governmental organizations of war-disabled veterans was designed and deployed in the organizational structure of the Foundation.

6. According to Paragraph 9 of Principle 3 of the State Constitution, discrimination against any human beingis forbidden. There are various ways to file a complaint and claim for damages in the event of any kind of inhumane treatment. Various mechanisms are applied to monitor performance of publicemployees and judges, as follows:

According to Paragraph 7 of Article 8 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations of 1993, “discrimination or prejudice or non-administrative relations toward individuals in the implementation of laws” will be subject to legal action toward administrative staff of each state organizations and departments. Accordingly, all provisions of the above mentioned law shall apply to all persons with disabilities against any discrimination or prejudice.

In criminal cases, according to Article 14 of the new Criminal Procedure code (approved in 2015), the plaintiffsmay demand for compensation of all material and moral damages as well as realistic interests caused by the crime.

Article 38 of the aforementioned law states: law enforcers are required to inform plaintiffs of the right to request for compensation and benefit from the available consultation services and other legal services.

In civil subject matters, according to Civil Liability Law (1960), compensationmay be received for all material, moral and physical injuries.

For instance, Article 1 of the above-mentioned law states: “anyone who deliberately or carelessly and without legal authorization harms someone’s life, health, property, freedom, dignity, business reputation or any other rights whichare provided to individualsby law, he/she is responsible to compensate the loss.”

1. Individuals belonging to ethnic and religious minorities can have political participation at different levels of social and public policies and programs. Presence of religious minorities in the Islamic Consultative Assembly stands as an evidence. Therefore, there is no obstacle for the politicalparticipationof persons with disabilities from ethnic, racial and religious groups,according to law.

Moreover, Persons with disabilitiesbelonging to Afghan and Iraqi refugee groups living in Iran enjoy the State Welfare Organization services.

In various provinces, associationsof disabled persons are acting in the form of different ethnic groups.

In general, the Ministry of Health of the Islamic Republic of Iran does not question patients on their sexual orientation while offering its services. Medical services are provided regardless of sexual orientation.

In Paragraph B of the mentioned question, reference is made to trans sexual people. It is noteworthy that in this regard, volunteer patients,upon confirmation by the forensic are introduced to the relevant centers affiliated to the Ministry of Health. Those centers provide patientswith psychological consultations and help them adapt with their current condition or as a final decision, help them in changing their gender identity. This process is carried out under the same protocol and includes persons with disabilities.

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1. Introduction ofthe law on reducing working hours for women employees with special conditions, in 2016:

-This law was prepared by the Office of the Vice-President for Women and Family Affairs and submitted to the Islamic Consultative Assembly in the form of a bill whichwas further approved by the Assembly. of the Lawwas meant to support participation of persons with disabilities in the economic life and for securing their employment, as well as providingsupportive and leniency policy for those people.

-According to this law, working hours for women employees with severe disabilities, in case of their request, has changed to 36 hours instead of 44 hours per week, with the same salaries and benefits.

-Also, this law, through a community-based approach, allows women employees with disabled husbands or children, to request to reduce their working hours from 44 hours to 36 hours per week and the employer is legally required to accept their request and paythem the same salary and benefits as for 44 hours of work per week.

-Also, implementation of the law in non-governmental sector has been subject to the agreement of the employers and thus to encourage them to accept women applicants, the Government shall provide those employerswith leniency policy and part of the employers’ insurance contributions will be paid by the state or they will benefit from stepped discounts.

Tosupport women with disabilities, they can take advantage of early retirement with 6 years of experience leniency, exemption of one of their boys from the military serviceand, in accordance with Article 6 of the Law on Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, reduced working hours and priority in benefiting from other services; the law on Retirement of the disabled of the Islamic Revolution, enacted on 30-11-1988provides for retirement of disabled veterans of the Revolution, disabled veterans of the imposed war, ordinary disabled persons and employees working in hard and hazardous jobs.

1. In accordance with Article 13 of the Law on Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted on 5-5-2004and Article 66 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act of 2013 and the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, disabled people who suffered from molestation, violence and abuse can defend their rights in court by supportsthey receive fromthe State Welfare Organization in providing a legal lawyer for them.

In theWelfare Organization, there are social emergency units for intervention in Crises called “Emergency” with the hot line No. 123 and also there are active counseling centers which provide crisis intervention services through telephone and in-person for all people, especially women with disabilities who are exposed to abuse and violence.

• Drafting the comprehensive bill for securing women against violence

In the issue of access to justice for women victims of violence, in particular the judicial justice, as well as women with disabilities who were victims of violence, the Office of the Vice -Presidentfor Women and Family Affairs has put drafting the bill on the agenda and this bill is now going through the final stages. Of the provisions in the bill, particular attention could be made to the following:

-Concept of violence and recognition of its different forms, including physical, sexual, psychological, economic, customs and traditions contrary to health (such as early and forced marriages) and etc.

-Drafting the mandatedescription for administrative organizations whichare responsible for fighting against violence

-Taking into account the supportive, preventive and civil measures in the combat process against violence

-Criminalizing particular instances of domestic violence

-introduction of particular items as Criminal Procedure Codein the subject of coping with violence against women

• Planning for achieving the objectives of sustainable development of 2030 at the Secretariat of the National Committee on the Sustainable Development in the Environment Protection Organization

The Vice President forWomen and Family Affairs is appointedby this Committee as the main custodian of therealization of the fifth plan goals and it was decided that the Deputy, in addition to the formation of specialized committees for determining necessary criteria for the realization of the fifth plan goals, utilize the cooperation and coordination of other executive and judicial organizations. Among the small targets of this goal is the protection of women, including women with disabilities against violence.

•Prediction of severe punishment for benefit of victims with disabilities

The Judiciary is preparing a reprimand bill and under this bill, it is anticipated that in the event that the crime victims have disabilities, the criminal penalties will increase.

•Signing a Memorandum between the Vice President for Womenand Family Affairs with the Central Bar Association

The Memorandum includes topics topics such as: benefiting women from free legal advice, in particular on claims arising from acts of violence,such as rape, domestic violence, honor crimes, acid attacks, sexual harassment in the workplace and women with gender identity disorder and bisexuals.

•Translating and editing the book “Handbook for National Action Plans on Violence against Women”, published by the United Nations entity for gender equality and women empowerment (UN women) and “Secretary General’s endeavorto end violence against women” on 2012 from English to Persian by the Office of the Vice-President for Women and Family Affairs, for exploitation in developing the required programs in this area.

Currently, Hurt, Insulted, threatened with Harm and Screamed ( HITS) scale is implemented in the new system of primary health care for the initial screening of domestic violence among married women of over 15 years of agein addition to native tools to identify cases of abuse of children and adolescents. This screening is public and persons with disabilities will also be included. It is worth mentioning that the additional screening and social- psychological interventions are implemented by the center’s psychologist.

1. The measures carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran ondisabled children can be divided into 2 fields:

A)In the field of legislation

A.1. based on the comprehensive law on protecting the rights of persons with disabilities approved in 2004, all children with disabilities benefit from training and educational services, access to occupation and rehabilitation services as well as other social rights similar to other members of the society.

A.2. The comprehensive plan of action on the rights of children and juveniles in 2014; strategies, goals and executive plans of the national authority for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has become implementable since 2016, has paid attention to the necessity of noticing the special requirements and needs of children with disabilities in multiple places in its predicted strategies, including:

Preparing and providing cultural tools and products suitable for disabled children, in accordance with the type of their disabilities

Creating and opening up rehabilitation training centers for children with disabilities in underprivileged areas

Providing rehabilitation, care and outreach services for children with disabilities at home (making the residential spaces accessible for less-privileged families with disabled members, such as stairways, toilets, providing special beds for children with severe motor disabilities and sending assistants for families with two or more disabled children, at least four times a week)

Providing rehabilitation devices for disabled children

Providing medical services for disabled children (sending medical teams for treating children with spinal cord injuries)

Providing grants for treating and rehabilitating children with metabolic disorders whichlead to disability

Development of techniques for prevention of disabilities resulting from genetic disorders

A.3. Paragraph 10 of the “Charter of Citizenship Rights” ratified on 17th July 2016 by the general board of the Supreme Court,states: citizens have the right to benefit from social services such as psychological counselling, rehabilitation and empowering trainings and services for supporting socially vulnerable and affected people, and persons with disabilities and limitations should be provided with suitable social and civic environment.