TEHRAN— Implementing the law on the rights of the children requires proper budget allocation, a member of the legal committee of the Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child has said.

In case the bill on children’s right is approved, there will be a great need to provide some mechanism for the law to go into effect properly which entails budget allocation, Monika Nadi said, Khabaronline reported on Saturday.

The Majlis [Iranian Parliament] passed a law on children’s right in 2002, however, a lack of clarity in the law and ineffective legislative strategies prompted the parliamentarians to start to revise the law in 2006. Six years later in 2012 a new bill on children’s right was brought before the parliament, but surprisingly the bill is yet to be approved to become a law. 

The current law on children’s right is ineffective in that in many cases of child abuse the punishment does not fit the crime. Releasing criminals on parole, giving remissions, and not granting responsible bodies the authority to fight violence against children are some of the shortcomings of the current law. Moreover, there is a need for establishment of special courts or child-friendly courts for cases of child abuse. There is no exact and unambiguous definition of “abuse” in the law, which opens up possibility of interpreting the word in different ways, and hence it might benefit the criminals in many cases.

In May, MP Mohammad Reza Badamchi announced on his twitter account that after months of discussions the bill on rights of children will be brought before the Majlis.

“Finally after days of putting in considerable effort in legislative group of Majlis we have managed to bring the bill on children’s right before the parliament,” he wrote.

However, almost two weeks after the MP’s announcement the bill is yet to be approved the Majlis. 

Nadi has explained that if the issues regarding the children were actually a matter of concern for the parliamentarians the law would have been approved so far. 

The great gap between the proposal of the bill and its approval is unjustifiable, she regretted adding that, “considering the latest news we hear about child abuse in the country approving the law on right of children is a must.”

Approval of the bill can positively affect the rights of children in Iran, she stated, noting, the fact that there is a law governing the rights of children is very much important and effective in supporting the children.
 
Nadi further explained that the new law might have some shortcomings, however, the fact that violators of the children’s right will be legally accountable and any violation of the would-be-law is punishable are some of the advantages of the law. 

The Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child started as an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) in 1994. The main goal of the Society is to publicize and promote the principles of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.

MQ/MG