Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Iran permission for the marriage. Upon review of the required documents, the Ministry will decide whether to grant or deny permission for the union.42 Barriers to accessing marriage registration are likely to have impacted on the acquisition of Iranian nationality by children born to Iranian mothers and non-Iranian fathers. This may have generated a risk of statelessness, with reports that “without an official marriage certificate, children born from such marriages have little hope of ever acquiring Iranian citizenship under existing laws”. 43 If the father is absent, the ability to obtain all of the required civil registration documents (including a marriage certificate or affidavit proving the marriage of the parents and the child’s birth certificate) made it even more challenging for the child in such circumstances to apply for Iranian nationality upon reaching 18 years of age – the age at which the application for nationality could be lodged, prior to the change of law adopted in October 2019. Under the amended legislation, official marriage registration is reportedly no longer required for an Iranian mother to confer her nationality, but how the application procedure will work in practice and what proof of marriage is required in place of official marriage registration is unknown. There is some evidence that administrative, financial or cultural barriers may also pose barriers to some ethnic groups in Iran to registering a marriage. For example, there may be a lack of awareness about civil registration among some groups in Iran, including within the Baluch ethnic group. Anecdotal evidence suggests the Baluch may practice traditional marriages, which may not be registered with the state authorities.44 A kind of ‘secret marriage’ (Suka Mahryie) is also practiced in some cases in Iran, whereby a father consents to the marriage of his daughter but there is no formal registration. Such marriages have reportedly become more common in the border districts since 2010 as a result of changes to the rules relating to energy and food subsidies for low income households and where a child born from such a union is refused recognition by the father, this can create problems with access to nationality.45 4.2 Birth Registration Children born to foreign national parents in Iran can face barriers to birth registration, which in turn impacts on their ability to acquire Iranian nationality. Under Article 976 of the Nationality Law, for children born to foreign national parents in Iran to acquire Iranian nationality, they must have proof of birth in Iran. Article 12 of the Personal Status Registration Act stipulates that the birth of every child born inside Iran shall be reported to the Civil Birth Registration Organisation, regardless of the parents’ nationalities.46 While in theory it is possible for non-Iranian nationals to register their child’s birth, in practice, this is not usually the case (as will be explained below). Considering the crucial role of birth registration in determining a child’s nationality, lack of registration can significantly heighten the risk of statelessness.47 42 Zahedi, A. (2007). Transnational Marriages, Gendered Citizenship, and the Dilemma of Iranian Women Married to Afghan Men, Iranian Studies, Volume 40, Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00210860701269568. 43 Semira N. Nikou, Iran: Discrimination Through Citizenship, Human Rights Brief, 2015, at 1, available at: http://hrbrief.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/01/Nikou-Iran-Final.pdf. 44 As reported by INGO staff in Iran in 2018. 45 As reported by expert consultant on Iran, October 2019. 46 Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and the Global Campaign for Equal National Rights (March 2019) Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council, available at: https://files.institutesi.org/UPR34_Iran.pdf 47 Tucker, J. (2014). Exploring Statelessness in Iran. Gaps in the Nationality Law, Populations of Concern and Areas for Future Research. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2441850 10