Necessity of Iran's Accession to 1979 Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

The United Nations Organization (UN) has already put some international instruments on the table in relation to the Status of Women and made them to be approved. The “Women’s Political Rights” Convention of 20 December 1952 was the first document in this ground codified by the UN. The UN “Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women” was approved by the UN General Assembly and entered into Force in 1981. The basic nature of this treaty is equality in all aspects between male and female without any exception and limitation as to gender. Now the Convention is one of the treaties presented to the respected authorities in Iran. In the early 1376 (1996) it was put before the High Council of Educational Revolution and a committee was responsible for reviewing the contents of the Convention. After reviewing and debating the Committee announced its views to the Council. However, debate on the necessity of joining by the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Convention which began in 1998 has been going on in governmental and non-governmental organizations till now. Although some Articles of the Convention are in conflict with the rules and laws of Iran the conditional accession of Islamic Republic of Iran is possible. Finally, it can be expressed briefly that today the Convention is a topic being noted and emphasized upon by international organizations due to different reasons. To this end the debate on joining or not joining to the Convention has become a major issue at the world level and a sign of respect of women’s human rights on the part of States.