Main activities to combat and prevent violence against wome

Main activities to combat and prevent violence against women and

girlsColombo PlanGender Affairs Programme2nd Focal Point Conference 2017

Women’s National MachineryMissionPolicy making, planning, leadership, monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment of government and non-governmental organizations’ programs regarding Women and Family issues

The Vice-Presidency for Women and Family Affairs

Objectives:Improvement of women’s status in the family and society;Enhancement of family members’ capacities, rights and responsibilities;Strengthening women and men’s freedom of choice ;Development of women and family’s social capital;Promotion of equitable access to opportunities and resources ;Overcoming women’s challenges for full participation in the process of country’s development.

The Vice-Presidency for Women and Family Affairs

Introduction

The

issue of violence against women has been put on the agenda of the legislative, judicial and executive

institutes

of the Islamic Republic of Iran as an undeniable priority to take necessary normative and executive actions

(in the form of laws, educational, supportive, consultative, precautionary and other appropriate measures) to

help prevent, control, reduce and combat violence against women

and

help victims reintegrate into the society.

Main Activities

Regulatory actions with respect to supporting women and girls against violence

Regulatory drafts of law with respect to supporting women and girls against violence

Executive actions with respect to supporting women and girls against violence

Conducting research and studies

Regulatory actions with respect to supporting women and girls against violence

Adoption of the Charter of Citizenship Rights by the President in 2016

This

charter was signed and unveiled by the President in 2016 with the goal of promoting citizenship rights and constituting the basis for drafting government plans and

laws.

T

he

Charter includes provisions on the prevention of violence against women, as follows:  

Right of health for women (Article 3)

Right of enjoying individual security (Article 13)

Right of enjoying privacy (Article 36)

Right of saving from forced marriage (Article 51)

Right of women and children against behavioral and verbal violence (Article 54)

Support for the rights of people deprived from freedom in incarceration and detention (Article 64)

Right of enjoying an environment free from individual and collective harms/distress (Article 91)

Regulatory actions with respect to supporting women and girls against violence

Islamic

Penal Code, approved in

2013

Considering the status of women in determining the type of free public services as a substitute for punishment (Article 84)

Prohibition of harassing pregnant women (Article 662)

Criminalization of female genital cutting and female circumcision (Article 664)

Criminalization of hurting the ability of pregnancy in women (Article 706) or her sexual gratification (Article 707)

Regulatory actions with respect to supporting women and girls against violence

Entitling women-related NGOs to file indictment based on the Criminal Court Procedure, 2013

Article 66 of this law, allows women-related non-governmental organizations to legally file indictment with respective judicial entities against the perpetrators of violence against women and to be present in all the stages of court proceedings. If the victim is categorized as “special category victim”, his/her consent is mandatory.

Regulatory actions with respect to supporting women and girls against violence

Family Support Law, 2012

This law regulates the legal mechanisms of supporting the foundation of family.

Expansion of family consultation centers (Articles 16 to 19)

Civil Code of 1918 and its amendments

This law allows women to apply for a divorce in case they suffer hardship in living with the husband (Article 1130) if the husband has continued mistreatment or is absent for six consecutive months or nine months (Amendment 2002).

The

Law to Support the Rights and Responsibilities of Women in National and International Arenas, 2004

This law considers the issue of supporting women and social justice for them.

Regulatory actions with respect to supporting women and girls against violence

Solutions and plans to support people below 18

in

the Comprehensive Action Plan of the Rights of Children and Adolescence (National Document) in the Vision 2025 Document; executive strategies and plans

This document was communicated by the National Reference of the Convention of the Rights of the Child to all the executive organizations in 2016 for implementation in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and all the legal and executive entities as well as civil society and non-governmental organizations which contributed to its draft. This document outlines eleven strategies in line with all the principles of domestic laws and international standards particularly the principles of the Convention of the Rights of Child to support children under 18 years old.

Draft regulatory plans to support women and girls against violence

Drafting comprehensive bill for women security against violence in 2016

This bill includes a set of precautionary, supportive, preventive and criminalization measures to support women against various types of violence such as family violence. The bill has been drafted by the Vice

Presidency

for Women and Family Affairs and includes the following provisions:

Chapter One: Introduction and Concepts (definition of violence and its forms)

Chapter Two: Organization and Preventive and Supportive Measures

Section One: Establishment of the National Committee for Women Security

Section Two: Establishment of the Fund to Support Women

Section Three: Obligations of government institutes and executive organizations

Chapter Three: Predicting crimes and punishments to prevent de-criminalization of the perpetrators of violence

Chapter Four: Special court procedure code for crimes related to violence against women

Draft regulatory plans to support women and girls against violence

Drafting the National Document of Women Security in Social Relations,

2015-2016

This document has been drafted by the Office of Women and Family Affairs of the Ministry of Interior in line with Article 227 of the Fifth National Development Plan (2011-2015).

The

main goals of this strategic document are as follows:

Promoting the health of women and children in various physical, mental, social and emotional aspects

Developing organizational, legal, human and information infrastructure to improve the status of women

To make necessary coordination among respective organizations in women affairs

Empowering authorities in women affairs

Predicting, preventing, controlling and fighting social disorders for women

Rehabilitating and empowering disabled and victimized women and children

Obligating organizations to make knowledge-based policy making for women affairs

Revising the Anti-Human Trafficking Law, 2004, in compatibility with international anti-human trafficking principles particularly the additional protocol to the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crimes, entitled Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, 2002 Proposing the Act to Support Children and Adolescence This Bill which is now under consideration of the Legal and Judicial Commission of the Iranian Parliament proposes the criminalization of many acts of violence against children, such as preventing children from going to school. Proposing articles to criminalize acts of violence against women in the Amendment to the Punishment Law, 2015 This articles which is now being finalized in the Judiciary in cooperation with Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs, criminalizes examples of violence against women such as family violence while proposing harsher punishment for such cases.  

Draft regulatory plans to support women and girls against violence

Executive measures to support women and girls against violence

Drafting the Comprehensive Plan of Social Emergencies in Natural Disasters  

This draft was proposed in 2014 by the State Welfare Organization’s Social Emergency Center.

Establishment

of offices to guide and support women and children in judicial complexes

In order to provide accessible and free consultation to women and children particularly in provinces and far districts, the Judiciary has set up special offices to provide legal guidance and support to women and children in courts. The Judiciary has also established offices in family courts to support women and children.

Executive measures to support women and girls against violence

National division of labor for the implementations of 2030 sustainable development goals  

The secretariat of the National Committee on Sustainable Development

which is responsible for the realization of 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, appointed in 2016 the vice president for women and family affairs, as the main authority of the fifth goal.

The

first consultative committee in this respect was held in 2016 with the presence of representatives from the relevant governmental organizations and civil activists to determine the goals and benchmarks for the realization of gender equality and women empowerment and assess the quality and quantity of its realization. One of such goals and benchmarks was to combat early marriages (under the legal age).

Executive measures to support women and girls against violence

Launching a hotline to render legal consultation to citizens especially the women

In order to provide free, online and accessible legal advice to citizens, the Judiciary has set up a telephone hotline (129) to provide free consultation services including on violence to citizens

The Social Affairs Department of the State Welfare Organization has launched a telephone hotline (123) to provide free advice to the victims of family violence. Moreover, women and girls exposed to violence can receive free consultation through 1480 hotline

The State Welfare Organization has also opened a telephone hotline for giving free consultation to addicts. This service is free and on a 24/7 basis for drug addicts and abusers, raising the awareness of families especially women through promoting behavioral skills to deal with drug addiction

The State Welfare Organization has developed a website (

Http://123.behzisti.ir

) to provide online consultation services to women and children

Establishing consultation services centers in family courts  

As per its legal obligation, the Judiciary is preparing the grounds for the establishment of consultation services centers in family courts.

Executive measures to support women and girls against violence

Specialized Social Services Center to provide social emergency services (social emergencies center)  

The

target group of the center includes women and girls who have been socially-distressed, women and girls who are prone to crisis, bullied and harassed spouses, runaway girls and couples who are suffering from severe family disputes. Below is the main activities of this center:

Rendering specialized services to 26,000 people in 168 centers of intervention in individual, familial and social crises

Providing mobile social emergency services through launching 300 active automobiles across the country.

Identification of 118,939 people in need of receiving specialized services

Preparing

the draft of the Comprehensive Plan of Social Emergencies in Natural Disasters

Rendering community-based social services and launching 146 social services bases active in illegal settlements and vulnerable districts

Executive measures to support women and girls against violence

Socially-Distressed Affairs Office

The

Socially-Distressed Affairs Office is obligated to control and reduce social harms/distress with reliance on new scientific approaches.

The

main activities of the Socially-Distressed Affairs Office include:

Establishment

of 26 centers to support and rehabilitate socially-distressed girls and women in 23 provinces in 2014

Establishment of 31 health clinics for girls prone to social disorders in 2014

Establishment of 185 family intervention centers to reduce divorce and separation in 31 provinces in 2014

Establishment

of daily supportive-educational centers for children and families in four provinces

Establishment of safe houses/shelters for women and girls exposed to violence and women victims of violence in 17 centers and 15 provinces

Executive measures to support women and girls against violence

Judiciary’s committee to prevent violence

The Deputy Head of Judiciary for Social Affairs and Crime Prevention formed the committee to prevent violence in 2014 to conduct specialized studies to prevent violence in society with the presence of representatives from 30 governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as scholars. The committee decided to establish four working groups in this respect. They include:  

The cultural-social intervention working group

The legal-judicial intervention working group

The health-based services working group

The working group to rehabilitate and support victims of violence

The above working groups were established to conduct specialized studies on violence and its various forms, offer practical and comprehensive solutions to prevent violence and support the victims of violence with the presence of representatives from all the relevant government bodies as well as representatives from the civil society, non-governmental organizations and experts.

Executive measures to support women and girls against violence

Holding a series of academic meetings to discuss the role of religious leaders in preventing violence against children

In those

meetings, main legal challenges particularly with regards to the issue of discrimination against girls, early marriage, early pregnancy, sexual violence and similar issues of concern were discussed by religious leaders and scholars as well as the

Ulama

and activists of the rights of children. The outcome of these meetings is going to be published in the form of a pamphlet and guideline for decision makers for children.

Executive measures to support women and girls against violence

Holding an academic meeting to investigate early marriage from the view point of the Iranian legal

system,

Islamic thoughts and international principles, 2016

The Vice

Presidency

for Women and Family Affairs held a joint academic meeting

in

cooperation with the Islamic Human Rights Commission. The meeting invited relevant authorities, experts and researchers to find practical solutions to stop early marriage and forced marriage below the legal age as well as marriages considered inconsistent with the terms and conditions of Article 1041 of the Civil Code. Such practical solutions would consider religious teachings, legal principles and international obligations of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to protect the rights and interests of children against marriages which take place below the legal age.

Executive measures to support women and girls against violence

Holding

a

meeting on women and security and sustainable development

O

ne

of the main initiatives of the incumbent government was the proposal entitled “World Against Violence and Extremism” which was presented in the form of a resolution to the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2013.

In

fact, during the past several years, the wave of the spread of violent extremism and terrorism has turned into a major concern of the countries in this region whose girls and women are among the main victims of terrorism, extremism and violence.

The

main issues discussed in this specialized meeting are as follows:  

Explaining and describing the role of women in establishing security for the realization of sustainable development

Humanitarian law supporting women and children from the view point of Islam and international law, as well as various aspects of the violation of the rights of women and children by terrorist groups and extremists in the region

Introducing the human dignity of women in Islam and the various aspects of the violation of the human dignity of women by terrorist groups and extremists

Harmonization of efforts and humanitarian measures taken to support the women and children victims of terrorist and extremist groups and cooperation and synergy to end violence, extremism and terrorism and punishing the perpetrators

Research activities and publications

The research plan to study challenges of violence against infertile women and the impacts of implementing solutions to combat violence against infertile

women

(under study)

A critical review of the requirements of the legal

system

of Iran with respect to acid attacks crimes with an emphasis on the necessity of the effective treatment of the victim and compensation

Preparing a report on the legal aspects of early marriages below the legal age, 2015

Thank You