Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Iran Thus, a child born out of wedlock or in an unregistered marriage should be able to access nationality through the father11, although more research is needed to determine if this is the reality in practice.12 Women cannot automatically pass on their Iranian nationality to children, making Iran one of the 25 countries globally in which equality between men and women related to the conferral of nationality upon children has not yet been attained.13 The law has progressively improved, with amendments passed in 2006 and 2019, although it retains elements of gender-discrimination, as set out below. According to legislation passed in 2006 ‘Article 1060 (Single Article)’, only children born inside Iran to Iranian mothers and foreign fathers could apply for Iranian nationality and only once they reached 18 years of age.14 This was problematic as it resulted in the risk of statelessness throughout childhood and adolescence if the child was unable to secure another nationality at birth. As of 2 October 2019, children born inside and outside Iran to an Iranian mother and non-Iranian father are able to obtain nationality from their mother, according to a Bill passed by the Guardian Council.15 The Bill allows Iranian women to request Iranian nationality for their children under the age of 18. 16 If the child has already turned 18, they may themselves directly apply for Iranian nationality.17 The Bill further allows a stateless person to apply for nationality if they and at least one of their parents were born in Iran. In these circumstances, however, they are only eligible to claim Iranian nationality if they are 18 years or older.18 The Bill may reportedly allow children of an Iranian mother to access nationality even if their parents’ marriage is not officially registered in Iran under the Iranian Civil Code, so long as they are married under Sharia Law.19 If fully implemented, this amendment to the nationality rules could provide a pathway to Iranian nationality for children born from unregistered marriages between, for example, Iranian women and Afghan men. However, generally a marriage will only be recognised by the Iranian consular authorities or the courts if it complies with the non-derogable rules of articles 1059 and 1060 of the Civil Code (prohibiting a Muslim woman from marrying a non-Muslim man and requiring permission from the government for a marriage between an Iranian woman and a foreign 11 According to an expert on Iranian law consulted in October 2019, the implementation of this in practice is very controversial. ‘Fornication’ is a serious crime and ‘adulterers’ are punished according to Islamic Criminal Law. Fear of reprisals for committing such a crime presents barriers to requesting birth certificates for children born from ‘adultery’. 12 Tucker, J. (2014). Exploring Statelessness in Iran. Gaps in the Nationality Law, Populations of Concern and Areas for Future Research [online] available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2441850 13 UNHCR. (2019). Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness. Retrieved from The https://www.refworld.org/docid/5c8120847.html, also See: Nikou, S. (2015). Iran: Discrimination Through Citizenship. Human Rights Brief. Available at: http://hrbrief.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Nikou-Iran-Final.pdf. 14 Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Article 1080 (Single Article). See: Iran Data Portal, Nationality Law – Single Article, BOOK 7 - On Marriage and Divorce - CHAPTER 3 – ON IMPEDIMENTS TO MARRIAGE, available at: http://irandataportal.syr.edu/nationality-law. 15 For Article 1 of the new Bill please see IRNA (2019) The Law on Citizenship of Iranian Women was Announced’, available at: https://www.irna.ir/news/83506911/. The full text of the Bill in its original language is available at: https://dotic.ir/news/5938 (no English translation was available at the time of publication. 16 Human Rights Watch (2019) Iran: Parliament Oks Nationality Law Reform, available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/05/14/iranparliament-oks-nationality-law-reform 17 Centre for Human Rights in Iran (2019) New Legislation, If Approved, Will Give Citizenship Rights To Children Born to Iranian Women, available at: https://iranhumanrights.org/2019/05/new-legislation-if-approved-will-give-citizenship-rights-to-children-born-to-iranianwomen/ 18 As reported by expert consultant on Iran, October 2019. 19 Centre for Human Rights in Iran (2019) New Legislation, If Approved, Will Give Citizenship Rights To Children Born to Iranian Women, available at: https://iranhumanrights.org/2019/05/new-legislation-if-approved-will-give-citizenship-rights-to-children-born-to-iranianwomen/ 6