UN, alarm over veil-related repression in Iran

(ANSA) – GENEVA, APRIL 26 – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today expressed alarm at the “violent repression” in Iran of women and girls in relation to the obligation to wear the hijab and for a project of law which risks imposing even more severe sanctions on those who violate the dress code. This project “must be shelved”, said a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk calls on the Iranian government to eliminate all forms of gender-based discrimination and violence, including by reviewing and repealing harmful laws, policies and practices, in line with and international human rights standards,” the spokesperson said in a press briefing. “We have received information that Iranian uniformed and plainclothes police are carrying out a violent crackdown across the country against women and girls under the nation’s strict hijab laws, as well as the men who support them. We have received reports of widespread arrests and harassment of women and girls, many of them aged 15 to 17,” said spokesperson Jeremy Laurence. The creation of a new body to enforce existing laws on compulsory hijab was also announced on April 21, adding that members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were trained to do so “more seriously” in public spaces, the spokesperson recalled. The United Nations is also concerned “that a bill on ‘Supporting families by promoting the culture of chastity and hijab’ – which imposes even more severe punishments – is close to final approval by the Guardian Council (ANSA).