UN Authority Figures

UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Board: Iran

Iran is the world's most prolific executioner of children, with 73 recorded child death sentences between 2005 and 2015, and uses torture and ill-treatment to extract confessions from minors.
Source: The Express Tribune, January 25, 2016

Mission of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF): "UNICEF is mandated by the UN General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a "first call for children" and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families. UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children - victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation and those with disabilities. UNICEF responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority." (U.N. Children's Fund website, "UNICEF's Mission Statement")

Term of office: 2016-2018

Iran's Record on Children:
"Child Abuse: There was little information available to reflect how the government dealt with child abuse, which was largely regarded as a private family matter. According to the Islamic Students' News Agency, more than 7,000 cases of child abuse were officially reported in 2012. The law permits executions of individuals who have reached puberty, defined as age nine for girls and age 15 for boys, if a judge determines the individual understood the nature and consequences of the crime. According to the 2012 Human Rights Watch World Report, at the end of 2012, more than 100 juveniles were on death row. Early and Forced Marriage: The legal minimum age of marriage for girls is 13, but girls as young as nine may be married with permission from the court... at least 48,580 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 were married in 2011, all but 13 of whom reportedly had at least one child before they reached 15. Approximately 40, 635 marriages of girls under age 15 were also registered between March 2012 and March 2013, of which more than 8,000 involved men who were at least 10 years older. At least 1,537 marriages of girls under the age of 10 were registered in 2012, compared with 716 registered between March 2010 and March 2011. Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C): ... FGM was widely practiced in the six provinces of Kurdistan, Western Azerbaijan, Kermanshah, Illam, Lorestan and Hormozghan. FGM was usually performed on girls under the age of 10. A 2012 study ... suggested that FGM was a common practice among the women, with more than 55 percent of girls circumcised before the age of seven." (US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2014, Iran)