Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 83rd ILC session (1996)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Iran (Islamic Republic of) (Ratification: 1964)

1. The Committee takes note of the Government's reports and the statistics supplied on men's and women's labour market participation in urban and rural zones, as well as of the information supplied by the Government representative in the Conference Committee in 1993 and the discussion which followed.

2. The Committee has also taken note of various United Nations documents concerning the Islamic Republic of Iran of relevance to this Convention (including the General Assembly Note "Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran" (A/48/526 of 8 November 1993) and its resolution 49/202 adopted on 23 December 1994; the Commission on Human Rights Special Representative's Reports (the most recent being E/CN.4/1995/55 of 16 January 1995) and that Commission's resolution 1994/73 adopted on 9 March 1994; resolution 1995/18 of 24 August 1995, adopted by the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities; the Summary Record of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/C.12/1993/SR.8 published on 20 December 1993) and its concluding observations (E/C.12/1993/7 of 9 June 1993); as well as the Summary Record of the 43rd Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD/C/SR.1990 of 22 October 1993)) all of which attest to continuing discrimination generally and in employment on the basis of religion and sex.

3. Discrimination on the basis of religion. The Committee notes from the above-mentioned UN documents that the situation of the Baha'i has not improved in the domains of access to higher education and to employment and terms and conditions of employment. The Government, on the other hand, has stressed in its reports, at the Conference Committee and in various UN fora, that:

- under the statutory provisions for the public sector there can be no discrimination in employment based on conviction and that in practice there have been no dismissals;

- the Social Security Act provides for pensions without any discrimination (the extracts of the Act on Transfer and Conveyance of Insurance or Pension Contributions, supplied by the Government, do not contain references to non-discrimination, but the Government does supply a copy of one Social Security Organization decision requiring the relevant Minister to give a clear ruling with reasons in the matter of authorizing a pension benefit despite the fact that the claimant belongs to the Baha'i sect);

- the Trades Regulation Act and the Regulations issued thereunder likewise deal with issuance of business permits and closure of businesses treating all nationals equally (the Government supplies a copy of a decision of the Ministry of Agriculture instructing the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to permit Baha'i agricultural workers to join village cooperative societies "in accordance with current decisions of the State and with the basic law" and a copy of the Act on the Cooperatives Sector of the Economy which lists simple membership rules);

- no law bars their access to educational and training institutions and in practice there had been no closure of Baha'i classes in January 1991 (the Government supplies a copy of the Ministry of Education and Training guidelines issued to directors of schools according to which Baha'i students who register as such shall have no action taken against them, whereas activist Baha'i students are to be summoned, asked to make written statements and the complete details including place of study and residence are to be sent to the security office of the general administration);

- the 1991 circular of the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council allegedly aimed at blocking the progress and development of Baha'is has never been issued and does not exist (the Government supplies a copy of correspondence between the "Committee on section 90 of the Basic Law" and the President's Office requesting the official position on the 1989 Directive No. M/11/4462 which proscribes the denial of rights to citizens unless, inter alia, they have been recognized as spies, without it being clear what the official position is for Baha'is, whom - as noted in previous observations - are often accused of being spies).

4. The Committee notes the copy supplied by the Government of Prime Minister's Circular No. 4114462 which, it states, repeals the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs directive of 8 December 1981 (ordering courts to withhold judgements in favour of dismissed Baha'is) and replaces it. Please provide information on the practical application of this circular, in particular information that would allow the Committee to assess whether dismissed Baha'i employees enjoy equality of treatment in employment irrespective of religion. The Committee also expresses its concern at the lack of progress concerning repeal of the discriminatory provisions in the above-mentioned 1989 Directive No. M/11/4462, since the copies provided by the Government do not clarify the official position.

5. The Committee observes that the Iranian representative stated during the May 1993 Session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that "As to the Baha'is, they were not victims of any discriminatory measures, even if an occasional unfortunate case might have been reported here or there. (...) Whatever they might claim to the outside world, the Baha'is despised the Muslims who, for their part, were not very well disposed to them either." That UN Committee concluded that it still had concerns about violation of the rights of the Baha'i community in particular the ban on their admission to universities. In view of all the foregoing, the Committee again requests the Government to take the necessary measures with regard to the Baha'is, in accordance with Article 2 of the Convention, to declare and pursue a national policy to promote equality of opportunity and treatment without discrimination on the ground of religion.

6. With regard to the closing of business and denial of employment to followers of the Zoroastrian faith and Freemasons, the Committee notes that the Government representative at the Conference Committee repeated that Freemason organizations had terminated their activity in the country, and denied that Zoroastrians suffered discrimination, his Government being willing to examine any alleged case. The Committee would appreciate the Government supplying information in future reports on the equality in employment of persons belonging to these two groups irrespective of their religion.

7. Recalling its previous request for details on the number of members of religious minorities who hold positions in the judiciary, the Committee notes that, according to the Government, the national Constitution requires the judicial body to arrange courts according to the rites and religious regulations when the issue concerned civil statutes, and that in localities where the majority of the population is non-Shiite Muslim, some special civil courts have been established. The Committee had already noted that an Act of 14 May 1982 giving effect to article 163 of the Constitution prescribed, for the selection of judges, that they profess the Islamic faith and enjoy qualifications in Islamic law or theology. The Committee also recalls that section 6 of the 1991 Labour Code provides that "every person has the right to freely choose an occupation, provided that such occupation is not inconsistent with Islam, public interests and the rights of others". As no data has been received which would allow the Committee to examine whether equality of access to the judiciary irrespective of religion exists, the Committee refers the Government to paragraph 125 of its 1988 General Survey on Equality in Employment and Occupation where the concept of non-discriminatory inherent requirements of a job is explained. The Committee stated there that "the promotion of equality of opportunity and treatment envisaged by the Convention requires that access to ... employment and occupation be based on objective criteria defined in the light of academic and occupational qualifications required for the activity in question. ... (T)he exception allowed for in Article 1, paragraph 2, of the Convention, must be interpreted strictly, so as not to result in undue limitation of the protection which the Convention is intended to provide." In paragraph 127 of the same survey, it stated that "criteria such as ... religion may be taken into account with the inherent requirements of certain posts involving special responsibilities, but that if this were carried beyond certain limits, this practice comes into conflict with the provisions of the Convention". The Committee would therefore again ask the Government to clarify the situation of religious minorities' access to the judiciary, providing, in particular, statistics on the number of serving judges.

8. Recalling its request for clarification of the legislative provisions requiring that candidates for election to Islamic Labour Councils must be practising Muslims, followers of the "Velayat Faghig", or members of the Jewish, Christian or Zoroastrian minorities, the Committee notes that, according to the Government representative at the Conference Committee, membership of these councils is not a profession but of an advisory nature and that the councils prepare programmes and coordinate the progress of workshops with the participation of workers and employers. The Government's report adds that the councils are to provide coordination between employers' and workers' representatives to improve enterprise affairs. Noting the role of these councils, the Committee consequently is of the opinion that the practice of one particular religion does not appear to be an inherent requirement for membership of them. The Committee therefore considers that the reasons for excluding persons who do not meet these criteria are not covered by Article 1, paragraph 2, of the Convention and therefore constitute discrimination on the ground of religion. The Committee asks the Government to reconsider the 1985 Act on Islamic Labour Councils so as to bring it into conformity with the Convention.

9. Discrimination on the basis of sex. The Committee observes that, according to the UN Special Representative, the situation of women has not changed from that noted in his interim report, where he stressed inequalities between men and women affecting the general status of women in society. The Committee recalls in this connection that equality in employment cannot be fully achieved within a general context of inequality. Inequality in social status inevitably results in inequality of treatment and above all in inequality of opportunity in employment (paragraph 239 of the 1988 General Survey).

10. Following this general comment, the Committee also observes that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed "particular concern" at its above-mentioned May 1993 meeting over the lack of equality between men and women in the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights, in particular since women are not permitted to study engineering, agriculture, mining or metallurgy or to become magistrates, are excluded from studying a very large number of specific subjects at university level, and need their husbands' permission to work or travel abroad. It came to this conclusion despite the Government's statement that "women could exercise every profession. According to recent statistics, 443,840 women exercised a profession and 45 per cent of them held a specialized post. Twenty per cent of lawyers were women. No restriction was imposed on women concerning the choice of profession" (Summary Record).

11. In this connection, the Committee welcomes the decree of the Minister of Higher Education declaring university admission for women to be free and cancelling the limitation on the number of female university candidatures. However, the Committee notes that the human resources statistics supplied by the Government do not throw light on any progress in the pursuit of a national policy to promote equality of opportunity in employment and occupation irrespective of sex. The Committee notes, as regards the ban on women becoming judges, the Government representative's statement to the Conference Committee that women could obtain "various judicial positions" according to their judicial rank without restrictions based on sex, and that the Government and the judiciary were determined to promote the participation of women in judicial activities, there being more than 250 women attorneys. The Committee welcomes the Bill, signed by the Minister of Justice on 19 April 1993, to amend the Act on Appointments to the Judiciary so as to allow qualified women to be appointed as judges. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the passage of this Bill and on the number of women judges and magistrates and women in "various judicial positions".

12. General measures concerning equality. Recalling its comments on the need to expand section 6 of the 1991 Labour Code to cover all the circumstances set out in Article 1, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention, the Committee notes that, according to the Government representative at the Conference, this section, having originated in the constitutional equality provisions, does cover all the ground listed in the Convention, including religion, political opinion and social origin. However, according to the Government's report, this is not an exhaustive list, and has been expanded in practice to cover religion, opinion and ethnic origin. The Committee, recalling the principle explained in the 1988 General Survey (paragraph 58) that where provisions are adopted to give effect to the Convention, they should include all the grounds of discrimination laid down in this Article, requests that the Government supply in its next report copies of cases where section 6 has been expanded so as to ensure protection against discrimination in employment and occupation on grounds not appearing in the text of the Labour Code.

13. Towards the end of its session, the Committee received a communication from the World Confederation of Labour, dated 4 December 1995, alleging discrimination in the labour market on the bases of sex, religion and political opinion. The Government has been sent a copy of this communication for its comments. The Committee intends to examine this matter at its next session.

14. The Committee is addressing a direct request to the Government on certain other points.