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The CHRI added ‘Figures published in January 2020 by the state-owned Pupils Association News Agency, PANA, show that 17,486 girls between ages of 10 and 14 got married in the first six months of the Iranian year 1397 (March 21, 2018-March 20, 2019) – that was seven percent of all marriages in Iran during that period.’ [footnote 168] Furthermore, ‘… according to the Statistical Center of Iran’s quarterly report for Spring 1399 (March 21, 2020 – June 20, 2020), there were 7,323 marriages registered during this period with girls aged 10 to 14 years, up from 5,968 in the winter and 6,210 in the fall.’ [footnote 169] 6.5 Effects of child marriage Unlike a temporary marriage, a so-called ‘white marriage’ was, according to an anonymous source cited in a joint report by the Danish Immigration Service and the Danish Refugee Council, published February 2018, deemed as an ‘illicit cohabitation between a man and a woman who are not married’ [footnote 27], though such relationships were said to be common in Tehran and other major cities [footnote 28] [footnote 29]. The Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre, Landinfo, provided information in a report on Iran’s welfare system, based on a range of sources, dated August 2020, and noted the State Welfare Organization (SWO), part of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare, offered avenues of support for women and girls affected by domestic violence, including 2 hotlines (123 – a general line, but also for victims of domestic violence – and 1480 for children) to the social emergency institution (urzhans-e ejte An article in IranWire, dated February 2020, considered ‘One of the main reasons for the prevalence of child and forced marriages in Iran is the poverty and economic desperation of poor and large families. Marrying daughters means lowering family costs. Studies show that the greater the economic prosperity and the higher the level of welfare, the lower the rate of forced marriages.’ [footnote 143] The Finnish Immigration report of 2015 noted ‘According to the Ebtekar newspaper, suicides committed by women are especially common in certain areas where forced marriages and repression of women’s rights are wide-spread.’ [footnote 171]
DFAT noted in its report on Iran that ‘Women from more religiously-minded families generally require the permission of a male guardian to travel alone and can face societal harassment for doing so, particularly in more conservative areas. Married women require the written permission of their husbands, and non-married women under the age of 40 the permission of their fathers or other male relatives, to obtain a passport and travel abroad.’ [footnote 103]Freedom House stated in its annual 2021 Freedom in the World Report for Iran that ‘Women do not receive equal treatment under the law and face widespread discrimination in practice. For example, a woman’s testimony in court is given half the weight of a man’s, and the monetary compensation awarded to a female victim’s family upon her death is half that owed to the family of a male victim.’ [footnote 188]
To determine whether marriage is in the interests of the child, most judges only rely on a medical certificate issued by the Legal Medicine Organization testifying to the physical growth of the child. At most, they will ask the child a few broad questions about the meaning of marriage…’ [footnote 130]Section 8 updated: 1 December 2021 8. Access to justice 8.1 Attitudes towards women in the justice system
For general information on Kurdish marriage customs, see the Country Policy and Information Note on Iraq: Kurdish ‘honour’ crimes. Support in the form of social emergency centres, health and safe houses exist although these places are poorly resourced, are not present throughout the whole country, are rare in rural areas and tend to focus on reconciliation. Given that some women require the permission of a male guardian to leave the home alone, access to such services may be limited (see Support services and Cultural and societal attitudes towards women). Decision makers must give careful consideration to the relevance and reasonableness of internal relocation taking full account of the individual circumstances of the particular person. According to Quran (2:221) Muslim men are free to marry fellow-Muslim women but they are forbidden to marry women from idolatrous communities unless they embrace Islam. They are, however, expressly allowed to marry upright women from the ahl-al-kitab, “people of the book”, meaning Jews and Christians, and, according to Shi’a, Zoroastrians, who are followers of the divine religions with a revealed scripture (5:6). cultural or tribal traditions and customs, including families who believe their daughter has to marry before reaching puberty (see Cultural and societal attitudes towards women).For further guidance on Convention reasons see the instruction on Assessing Credibility and Refugee Status. 2.4 Risk Another category of child marriage identified by Abhari is based on people in poverty seeking economic gain. These parents send away their daughters very young to the groom’s house in exchange for a bride price, which depends on how beautiful the girl is or how rich the future husband is. There are also groups in Iran who believe girls should marry ideally before puberty.’ [footnote 141]
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