Iran takes steps to make its nationality law less discriminatory

I have written before about discriminatory nationality laws, specifically in relation to Nepal.  But Nepal is not the only country with this problem.  There are 25 countries in the world which still have discriminatory nationality laws.  Among them are Brunei, Kuwait, eSwatini, Liberia, the Bahamas, Barbados and Iran ¹.

Iran has recently been in the news for proposals which are set to make its nationality law less discriminatory on the basis of gender.  In this blog I take a look at those changes and their potential impact.

 

Gender discriminatory nationality laws

A common form of discrimination involves nationality laws which do not permit women who are married to a foreign national from passing on that nationality to their child.  Alongside Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Mauritania and Nepal have similar provisions.

But times are changing.  Countries are working hard to make amendments so that their citizenship rules no longer discriminate against women, or seek to impose unnecessary burdens on them when it comes to passing that nationality on to their children or spouses.  Recent positive changes include those made by Sierra Leone, Tunisia, Algeria and Madagascar.  More countries, such as Togo, are anticipated to make changes to their laws in the near future.  Often such changes are encouraged by regional agreements.  One example is the Abidjan Declaration on the eradication of statelessness.  Article 24 of the Declaration asks countries to consider their nationality laws and to amend discriminatory provisions as part of their action plans to end statelessness.  I have written about the Abidjan Declaration, and the action plans that countries like Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Guinea Bissau must commit to, here.

Iran is the latest country which has turned its focus to modifying its nationality laws to make them less discriminatory.  It is not clear how many children are stateless directly as a result of the discriminatory provisions in its nationality laws.  What is known is that some 49,000 children living in Iran lack proof of nationality ².

 

Changes proposed by the draft nationality law

On 13 May 2019, Iran’s Parliament approved an amendment to Iran’s nationality law to allow Iranian women to pass their nationality to their children ³.

The amendment allows Iranian women married to men who are not Iranian and who have foreign nationality to request Iranian citizenship for their children, where the child is not yet 18.  Previously, the law did not allow women to pass on their nationality to their children at all.  The change was inspired by the famous Iranian mathematician, Dr Maryam Mirzakhani, of whom Iran is rightly proud. Dr Mirzakhani sadly died in 2017, making the link between Iran and her family weaker.  Her daughter cannot obtain Iranian citizenship, since Dr Mirzakhani was not married to an Iranian citizen ⁴.

 

Who will the change affect?

The amendments to the law are estimated to impact more than 150 000 children under 18 whose fathers are foreign nationals ⁵.

In Iran, many Iranian women are married to men of Afghan origin.  UNHCR estimates the number of Afghan migrants in Iran at approximately 3 million ⁶.   Not all of those men are recent migrants.  Many have been in Iran since the 1970s.  In any event, some 30,000 married couples (and any children they have) could be affected by the proposed changes ⁷.  And those numbers relate to official marriages.  Unofficial marriages could double that number.

 

Passing Iran’s nationality law

Parliament passed the draft law in May 2019.  For the bill to become law it had to be approved as being in accordance with Iran’s Constitution and Sharia law.  The determination is made by the Guardian Council.  The Guardian Council is a body of 12 jurists specialising in Islamic law.  In June 2019 the Guardian Council rejected the bill.  Its reasoning was based on concerns over security and because it breaches Article 3(5) of the Iranian Constitution ⁸.  The Constitution requires the Islamic Republic government of Iran to use all of its resources to prevent foreign influences on the country ⁹.

To keep the bill from being rejected completely, Parliament amended the bill to add a condition to the receipt of citizenship.  For a child to be granted citizenship, he or she must not pose a security problem ¹⁰.  It is for officials at Iran’s Intelligence Ministry to determine whether a child is a security problem.  The new formulation of the law means that citizenship is not only conditional on the request being made, but also on the potentially arbitrary decision of the Intelligence Ministry.  Given that the considerations relate to ‘security’, it is unlikely that that part of the decision-making process will be transparent and open to challenge.

In October 2019, the Guardian Council approved the amendments proposed by Parliament and the amendments were signed into law ¹¹.

 

Is this change sufficient?

Even with the amendments which Parliament had to make to satisfy the Guardian Council, the potential impact is big.  Tens of thousands of children can now receive their mother’s citizenship.  From citizenship flows access to health care, university education and work ¹².

But the fact remains that citizenship is not passed on automatically when it is passed on by the child’s mother.  Under Iran’s nationality law, citizenship still needs to be requested.  The Intelligence Ministry must first assess that there is no security problem before citizenship is granted.  Progress is made but there still remains a difference in treatment.  Iranian men are able to pass on their citizenship to their children automatically, without the need for the Intelligence Ministry to make an assessment.  Iranian women should have the same rights.