One million people include citizenship of children of Iranian women married to foreigners

Abdul Rahman Bour-Tehran

With the approval of parliament and the Guardian Council, the Iranian government has passed a law granting Iranian citizenship to children of Iranian women married to foreigners.

Obtaining any nationality in the world is an affiliation that entails duties and rights towards the donor state. Nationality is a prerequisite for benefiting from the opportunities and privileges offered by the state to its children.

The decision came after 13 years of enactment of a law passed by the Iranian parliament in 2006, which decided to apply for Iranian citizenship for foreign children of Iranian mothers, after completing 18 years.

Granting citizenship to the child immediately
According to the new law, an Iranian mother can immediately grant Iranian citizenship to her newborn child, whether she lives in Iran or in any other country, so her child enjoys all the rights granted to citizens.

In November 2018, the government sent a new draft bill to the Iranian parliament for approval, following a proposal by the Ministry of Cooperation, Labor and Social Welfare, for depriving children of all social and educational rights, insurance and benefits, as well as problems of permanent residence and their social suffering.

In May this year, the Iranian parliament approved the draft, while the Guardian Council rejected it because of concerns about security problems (caused by the activities of foreign fathers).

Ensure parents' security files
To reassure the government, parliament amended the bill by adding the Ministry of Intelligence's approval to make sure that parents' files were free of any security problems ahead of the granting of citizenship to their children.

The parliament called on the Iranian police to facilitate the treatment of issuing the necessary permits to grant residence to foreign fathers, if the basic conditions, especially security, are met.

Iranian women married to foreigners are 60% married to Afghans, 12% Iraqis and 28% of different nationalities, according to unofficial statistics.

Identity grant investment
"Now all children have access to all the services and capabilities that exist in the country, which will double their sense of belonging to the country and allow them to form an identity," says Dr. Habibullah Masoudi Farid, assistant cultural and social affairs officer at the Social Welfare Organization in Iran.

Farid believes that we must invest in these children, and benefit from their integration, otherwise they will feel lost in society. "We must pay attention to the girls in Iran and protect them, especially in the border provinces, for fear of being forced into marriage, in the hope of the economic benefit provided by the foreign man to obtain a residence in Iran," he said.

Abul Fadl Abu Turabi, a member of the Iranian parliament's internal affairs committee, said that the denial of identity has forced the group into social problems, resulting in a deep hatred that affects them negatively and the rest of the population.

Disturbing privileges
Analysts say that despite the high status of Iranian women, government attention to the rights of citizens, and the availability of many privileges for the children of Iranian women under the new law; there are concerns about the decision.

Lawyer and women's rights activist Marzia Mohebi believes that there is a legal and legal imbalance related to the new law, which allows the citizenship of children of Iranian women who are legally married (marriage contract without registration in official circles), not legal marriage (marriage contract written and registered in offices). And official circles), a marriage officially adopted by the Government.

She criticizes lovers of ignoring the new law in marriage laws in a country based on legal marriage, such as not allowing underage marriages (under 13 for girls and 15 for young men). In legal marriages, a girl who is less than nine years old can be married according to the jurisprudential rules, which poses a danger to the future of children and girls, who may be married by luring their parents with the money of the "foreign groom" in order to obtain his residence in the country.

Challenges of naturalization decision
The admission of new citizens (children), who number more than one million people, according to the spokesperson of the Judicial and Legal Committee in Parliament Hassan Norouzi - amid difficult economic conditions, with inflation and unemployment; will increase the burden of the state in terms of saving money for their studies and financial assistance provided From the government, which will lead to the government face various challenges, after taking naturalization decision.

The Ministry of Interior asked all governorates and the General Directorate of Personal Status on October 13 to start the new law.

While observers are looking into the law's entry into force and whether it will need to be amended in the future, some interested people wonder how many mothers will apply for Iranian citizenship for their children. Will they prefer only the father's nationality?