{"id":59649,"date":"2023-02-14T13:59:52","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T13:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/?p=59649"},"modified":"2025-12-05T16:16:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:16:25","slug":"national-uprising-in-iran-the-alarming-and-deeply-worrying-treatment-of-the-iranian-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/national-uprising-in-iran-the-alarming-and-deeply-worrying-treatment-of-the-iranian-children\/","title":{"rendered":"National uprising in Iran – the alarming and deeply worrying treatment of the Iranian children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The current regime in <\/strong>Iran<\/strong><\/a> enables a leader to possess absolute powers in the judicial, executive and legislative branches. For this reason, and despite Iran\u2019s various obligations under international law and as a member of the United Nations, past and present protests are being met with the utmost maliciousness. This has led to various atrocities and, murders, and the known mistreatment has been recounted, notably by various NGOs and the United Nations. A particularly targeted group of victims of this repressive political climate in <\/strong>Iran<\/strong><\/a> are precisely the children themselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current regime in <\/strong>Iran<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The government formed in Iran<\/a> consolidates the \u201cexecutive, legislative and judicial authority in the position of the Supreme Leader\u201d (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2022). This means that Iran<\/a>\u2019s current Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, possesses absolute powers given that there is no separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n

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As a consequence, the judicial body in Iran<\/a> lacks independence. Furthermore, \u201cits politization is a major contributing factor to failing of accountability\u201d (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2022). An example of failure to ensure accountability relates to the \u201clarge-scale use of lethal force by security, law enforcement and other State agents against peaceful protesters in nationwide protests\u201d, which led to \u201calarmingly high numbers of injuries and deaths, together with arrests, enforced disappearances, detentions, prosecutions and executions\u201d (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s obligations under international law<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1945, Iran<\/a> joined the United Nations and since then, Iran<\/a> has been an active member of the United Nations (United Nations, n.d). Iran<\/a> has acceded to various United Nations treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (United Nations, n.d). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, Iran<\/a> has obligations under international law and United Nations treaties to uphold the human rights of its nationals. Accordingly, Iran<\/a> \u201chas an obligation to protect children\u2019s right to life under any circumstances, and to respect and protect their right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.\u201d (Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current human rights situation in <\/strong>Iran<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran<\/a>, Mr Javaid Rehman, has been appointed in order to \u201cmonitor and investigate human rights violations\u201d in Iran<\/a> and to submit reports on the situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran<\/a> (United Nations – Office of the High Commissioner, n.d.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has led to recent thematic (A\/HRC\/49\/75) and country reports (A\/77\/181). While both reports focus on protests prior to the one of 2022, the Special Rapporteur continues, as part of his mandate, to engage on issues of concern such as the current human rights violations leading up to and since the death of Jina Mahsa Amini (United Nations – Office of the High Commissioner, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past protests to remedy the mistreatment of children<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The above-mentioned thematic report lists the protests of 2009, 2019, 2020 and 2021 in Iran<\/a> to have led to \u201calarmingly high numbers of injuries and deaths, together with arrests, enforced disappearances, detentions, prosecutions and executions\u201d (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Particularly, the Special Rapporteur had found that during the 2019 protests, 22 children were killed, and that during the 2021 protests, at least 9 children aged between 12 and 18 years were arrested (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current protests and subsequent child rights violations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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News of the death of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini has sparked waves of outrage in Iran and across the world. On 16 September 2022, Jina Mahsa Amini, initially arrested for alleged non-compliance with Iran\u2019s dress code (Aljazeera – Maziar Motamedi, 2022), died from sustained injuries following her detention by the Morality Police, which was employed to enforce the mandatory hijab rules in Iran<\/a> (Aljazeera, 2022). And since that date, \u201cthousands of people have taken part in demonstrations across the country in which dozens of children have reportedly been killed, injured and arrested\u201d (Save the Children, 2022). The protests in Iran<\/a> triggered a violent State response, unravelling decades-long patterns and practices of oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Special Rapporteur has denounced the current repression of protests by Iranian security forces. He expressed \u201calarm at the situation of children who have been disproportionately affected by the latest protests\u201d and concern \u201cat reports that schools have been raided and children arrested for their alleged participation in protests\u201d (United Nations – Office of the High Commissioner, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSome principals have also reportedly been arrested for not cooperating with security forces. This instils an atmosphere of fear in these schools with grave consequences on the well-being and education of these children<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n– Mr Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on Iran (United Nations – Office of the High Commissioner, 2022)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the face of the rapidly escalating events in Iran<\/a>, the Human Rights Council decided to establish an independent international fact-finding mission to \u201cthoroughly and independently investigate alleged human rights violations in Iran<\/a> related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022, with respect to women and children\u201d and \u201cto establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the alleged violations\u201d (United Nations – Office of the High Commissioner, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mistreatment and murder of children in <\/strong>Iran<\/strong><\/a> – an alarming yet uncertain assessment<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the midst of the protests, Iranian children rapidly became targets of violence by Iranian security forces. Various reports have indicated that children are being killed by security forces, that children are sustaining injuries from live ammunition, metals pellets or fatal beatings, that schools are raided, that children are being arrested and detained<\/a> by security forces, and that some children are being sent to \u2018psychological centres<\/a>\u2019 after being arrested (Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe authorities have been killing children in a bid to crush the spirit of resistance among the country\u2019s youth and retain their iron grip on power at any cost. And yet despite that, many children have courageously continued to take to the streets in search of a future without political oppression and inequality<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n– Heba Morayef, MENA Regional Director at Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2022).<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The number of deaths of Iranian children remains unclear. However, the United Nations and various NGOs have already indicated an estimated and minimum number of children affected, and it is the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n