Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Iran 3. IRAN’S NATIONALITY LAW The rules regulating acquisition and loss of Iranian nationality are established in the Articles 41 and 42 of the Iranian Constitution6 and the Iranian Civil Code, as can be found in Book 2 On Nationality (hereafter ‘the Nationality Law’).7 Articles 976-991 relate to nationality and deal with the acquisition of nationality at birth (Article 976-978), naturalisation (Article 979-987) as well as renunciation of nationality (Article 988). In 2006, some exceptions to the dominant paternal jus sanguinis regime were introduced through the addition of a single article and two notes to Book 7 - On Marriage and Divorce. An attempt to further reform the law in 2019 to address gender discrimination was unsuccessful. Iran has international obligations to prevent statelessness and protect the human rights of stateless persons on the basis of a number of conventions to which it is a party.8 These include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam. Iran is not however a signatory to the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness; nor is Iran a party to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which protects the equal nationality rights of women and men. The following paragraphs set out further details on the Nationality Law as relevant to (the risk of) statelessness. 3.1 Gender Discrimination Iran mainly uses paternal jus sanguinis as the means of conferral of nationality at birth. According to Article 976(2) of the Nationality Law, persons born to an Iranian father are considered Iranian citizens regardless of whether they have been born inside or outside of Iran: “…those whose fathers are Iranians, regardless of whether they have been born in Iran or outside of Iran” are considered to be Iranian nationals.9 The Nationality Law does not explicitly require lineage to be within registered wedlock for a child born to an Iranian man to acquire nationality jus sanguinis. Article 1167 of the Civil Code however states that “A child born of adultery shall not belong to the adulterer”.10 Nevertheless, the Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that “a child born outside wedlock will be considered the child of its biological parents with the entire legal obligations that are attached to it with the exception of inheritance.” 6 The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, available at: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/ir/ir001en.pdf Iranian Civil Code: Book 2 On Nationality. Retrieved from http://irandataportal.syr.edu/nationality-law. Iran's current Nationality Law dates back to 1929, when it was ratified by the parliament. In 1934, the second volume of Iran's Civil Code was ratified, superseding the previous provisions and are still in force today. 8 Article 9 of the Iranian Civil Code states “Treaty stipulations which have been, in accordance with the Constitutional Law, concluded between the Iranian Government and other government, shall have the force of law.” When Iran accedes to an international treaty it therefore becomes part of Iranian national law. Iran is therefore legally bound to its human rights obligations under the ICCPR, ICESCR, ICERD and CRC. 9 Iranian Nationality Law, Article 976. 10 The Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Article 1167, available at: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/ir/ir009en.pdf 7 5