Abstract
In the aftermath of World War II, the international community has started to elaborate internationally protected individual rights by the creation of many legal instruments containing concrete standards and norms, particularly legitimized by the United Nations/UN system. Since the 1979 Revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran at the domestic level has demonstrated a diverse attitude to these international standards and norms. This divergence took two forms: positive and reluctant towards incorporating the UN standards and norms into domestic Post-Revolution policy-making. This chapter specifically examines the rights of offenders and victims of crime from a criminological-victimological perspective. Throughout 40 years since the 1979 Revolution, Islamic Republic of Iran, as the first modernistic Islamic government in Persian’s history, has sought to balance these two forms. Some UN standards and norms have been incorporated into the Islamic Republic of Iran’s criminal policy. Conversely, certain UN standards and norms have not even half a chance to be incorporated into Islamic Republic of Iran’s domestic legal system. Issues relating to children and juveniles, persons with disabilities, narcotic drugs, and human trafficking are the examples of positive attitude that the present chapter explores. The women’s issues in relation to discrimination and violence are the negative example. Finally, the chapter concludes that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s positive attitude regarding the implementation of the UN standards and norms helps to reinforce peaceful relations in the international community.
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Notes
- 1.
For example, Article 3 of the 1948 Declaration enunciates the rights to life, liberty, and personal security. In the Preamble of the 2030 Agenda, all people are determined to ensure the fulfillment of their human rights based upon dignity and equality.
- 2.
According to Article 4: “All civil, penal, financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria. This principle applies absolutely and generally to all articles of the Constitution as well as to all other laws and regulations and the wise persons of the Guardian Council are judges in this matter” (Islamic Parliament Research Center of the Islamic Republic of IRAN 2004).
- 3.
The first IPC was enacted in 1982 composing four parts (General Provisions, “Hodud”, “Qisas”, and “Diyat”). Its fifth part (“Ta’zirat”) was passed in 1983. Subsequently, IPC 1982 was replaced by a new code in 1991 (with its fifth part in 1996). Finally, the newest IPC, consisting of four sections was enacted in 2014. Consequently, the fifth section of the new IPC is still the 1996 provisions (“Ta’zirat”).
- 4.
According to statements of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s commander of Police Forces (“NAJA”), the organ has lost over 4000 peoples in fight against trafficking of illicit drugs and narcotics after the establishment of NAJA in the late of 1980s (TASNIM 2019).
- 5.
This article concludes that Iranian criminal policy on narcotic drugs mainly bases upon un-proportional and severe penalties. However, some amendments on treatment of the addicted persons are excluded in which the rehabilitation policy has been influenced by international standards, including those contained in the 1988 Convention.
- 6.
For example, not only acts or activities such as production, manufacture, supply, sale, and distribution, which are criminalized by the 1988 Convention, but also other behaviors including drug use and abuse (other than for medicine purposes) may lead to the corporal punishments mentioned before. (See, e.g., Arts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 19 of the 1988 FDA (Islamic Parliament Research Center of the Islamic Republic of IRAN 1988)).
- 7.
The argument could be referred to the decarceration measures in Islamic Republic of Iran’s sentencing policy to reduce the penal population of the Prisons and Security and Corrective Measures Organization. For example, the new Head of the Judiciary passed new regulations on the decarceration. The Directive of Online Information of Entry to the Prison System to the Competence Judicial Authorities of August 2019 is a major instance directing the prosecutors and judges to avoid the decisions, which may result to jail or prison. (Rayejian Asli 2019a, p. 10).
- 8.
According to the amended provision, the penalty for offenders sentenced to death or life imprisonment, under some circumstances (e.g., not engaging in armed trafficking in narcotic drugs), may be mitigated to monetary or financial penalties as fines and/or confiscation.
- 9.
As a notable instance, in its 2018 Report, Amnesty International recorded 253 cases of death penalty in Iran that is the lowest rate of executions in this country since 2010. According to the Amnesty International’s report, the falling numbers of death penalty sentences were the result of amending the 1988 FDA and suspending or deferring some executions for drug-related offenders (Amnesty International 2019, p. 16).
- 10.
It should be pointed out that a distinction between two terms “child” and “juvenile” could be construed from the laws and provisions of Islamic Republic of Iran. In the country’s legal system, the term “child” is often seen in those legislations derived from Islamic jurisprudence (called ”fiqih”), where its Arabic equivalent “tifil” (pl. “atfaal”) is used in certain legislation as the Civil Code and the IPC. The term “juvenile’, conversely, is found in those legislations influenced by the academic literature, particularly the criminological one, through which the Persian word (Farsi) “nojavaan” referred to as the equivalent of English term “juvenile”.
- 11.
For example, Articles 34 and 36 of the 1989 Convention emphasize on the prevention of all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse as well as on the protection of the child against all other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child’s welfare. It seems obvious that focusing on sexual forms of child abuse or ill-treatment is indicating its distinctive feature at the international level.
- 12.
It is the Protocol I of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 2000 (the Palermo Convention, 2225 UNTS 209).
- 13.
It should be noted that the Bill of Islamic Republic of Iran’s Accession to the Palermo Convention was initially passed by Islamic Consultative Assembly in 2017, but the Guardian Council as a filtering organ to realize conformity all laws and provisions with “Shari’a” (Islam) rejected it. According to Guardian Council’s statement, Islamic Consultative Assembly revised some provisions contained in the Bill in 2018, but then it could not convince the Guardian Council. Nevertheless, the Bill could still have a chance to pass if the Expediency Council, as the organ to resolve the dispute between the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Guardian Council, approved the Islamic Consultative Assembly’s requirements (TASNIM News 2018). Despite of the chance, the Expediency Council, in its session on January 2019, failed to resolve the current problem (IRNA 2019a, 83336157).
- 14.
President Rouhani also submitted “the Bill of Accession of Islamic Republic of Iran to the Palermo Convention” to Islamic Consultative Assembly in 2013. Its justification informs that Islamic Republic of Iran has been victim of transnational organized crime (such as trafficking in persons particularly women and children) in some cases. Moreover, the economic and social security of country requires to prevent activities of criminal organizations (Mafia). Thus, it is appropriate that Islamic Republic of Iran passes the Palermo Convention through which the State would able to enjoy facilities and aids of, and cooperation with other States against transnational organized crime (The Presidential Office 2013, p. 4).
- 15.
It should be recalled that Islamic Republic of Iran has not ratified the Optional Protocol of CRPD.
- 16.
From a victimological perspective, Article 1 of the Optional Protocol of CRPD is a sample that denotes the term “victim” in the context of victimization aspects in the CRPD. Considering the duty contained in this Article upon which State Parties of CRPD recognize the competence of a Committee on the rights of persons with disabilities, it may be inferred why the State Parties like Islamic Republic of Iran have not accepted the Optional Protocol of CRPD. Under the provision, any individual or groups of individuals who claim to be victimized by their respective State would be able to declare or report a violation of the provisions of the Convention by that State Party to the Committee concerned (Rayejian Asli 2013, p. 59).
- 17.
The article explores cultural rights composing the right to education, to participate in cultural life of the society, and to have access to information. The authors conclude that the Comprehensive Act 2004 provided a series of more privileged rights including some aspects of education for the disabled persons in comparison with the CRPD.
- 18.
Somalia, Sudan and Tonga, Paula, and USA are another Member States, which have not signed or joined the Convention 1979 (1249 UNTS 13).
- 19.
The UN has adopted several measures relating to end the violence against women. Although the Convention 1979 may imply the inclusion of discrimination to the concept of violence against women, other measures like conferences and resolutions adopted by the UN assert violence against women as a global issue to be addressed. For example, The General Assembly’s 2012 bi-annual resolutions have asserted eliminating all forms of violence against women and trafficking in women and girls (A/RES/67/144; A/RES/76/145). The phrase “violence against women and girls” comes from the 2030 Agenda (A/RES/70/1).
- 20.
- 21.
For example, the old Penal Code of France (1810) provided such a murder as an exemption for the husband. However, there is not a similar provision in the new Penal Code (1992): Rostami Nadjaf-Abadi and Haghshenas (2016), p. 195.
- 22.
In addition to these domestic legislations, from an international perspective, the 1948 Declaration recognizes the right to marry providing full age of men and women (Art 16-1) as well as the free and full consent of the intending spouses (Art 16-2).
- 23.
- 24.
For further study, see Rayejian Asli (2013), op cit., p. 58: foot page 1.
- 25.
All United Nations parliamentary documentation starting with “A” and “E” symbols from the United Nations website http://www.un.org.
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Asli, M.R. (2021). Incorporating the United Nations Norms into Iranian Post-Revolution Criminal Policy: A Criminological-Victimological Approach. In: Kury, H., Redo, S. (eds) Crime Prevention and Justice in 2030. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56227-4_4
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