Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Iran 1. SUMMARY OF MAIN ISSUES 3 • Comprehensive data about the problem of statelessness and the size of the stateless populations residing in Iran is not available. • Iran has a very weak human rights framework for stateless and undocumented persons, resulting in numerous protection risks. Iran’s stateless populations cannot easily access social services, health care and education. • Iran does not allow women to confer nationality to their children on the same terms as men, putting some children born of an Iranian mother and a stateless or foreign national father who is unable to pass on his nationality, at risk of statelessness. • Iranian nationality is granted to both foundlings and children born in Iran to foreign parents if one of their parents was also born in the country. While the law therefore contains some safeguards against statelessness, gaps exist both in the law and its operation in practice that mean that not all stateless children born in Iran can obtain a nationality, nor can children born outside Iran to an Iranian mother and a foreign father. • Legal, administrative, financial and cultural barriers prevent the birth registration of children of undocumented and/or stateless parents, which leads to inter-generational lack of documentation and increases the risk of statelessness. • Iran’s stateless population face protection issues and have limited access to social services, including education and health. • Two identified stateless populations are the Faili Kurds and Khavari. Additionally, a group of Baluch residing close to the border of Afghanistan do not have any proof of citizenship and are at risk of statelessness. Afghan refugees are also at risk of statelessness. If an Afghan refugee is born inside Iran and one of their parents was also born inside Iran, they are theoretically entitled to Iranian citizenship at birth, but lack of civil registration and documentation impedes the operation of this rule.