TEHRAN: A law aimed at boosting Iran’s population came into force on Tuesday after concerns were raised that it would limit women’s access to reproductive health care.
The “Youthful Population and Protection of the Family” legislation was approved by parliament in October and entered into effect by notification from President Ebrahim Raisi.
The law renders reproductive screening optional, imposes restrictions on abortion and limits access to contraception, while providing added benefits to families with more children.
It also tasks public broadcasters with producing content that encourages women to have more children and denounces celibacy or abortion.
About 46.6 percent of Iran’s population of 83 million is under 30 years old, according to the latest data published in 2019 by the national statistics office.
The population under 30 has dropped since 2010 however at a negative rate of 3.24 percent.
According to the World Bank, Iran’s population growth rate has sharply declined from over four percent in the early 1980s to 1.29 percent in 2020.
The law has been criticized by United Nations experts, as well as by women’s rights activists and other rights groups.
“The consequences of this law will be crippling for women and girls’ right to health,” the UN experts said in a statement on Tuesday.
They added that it “represents an alarming and regressive U-turn by a government that had been praised for progress on the right to health.”
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said the law “further violates women’s rights to sexual and reproductive health and puts women’s health and lives at risk.”
It called on Iran to “immediately repeal the provisions that restrict human rights.”
In an interview with ISNA news agency, Afrouz Safarifard, an official in Iran’s social security organization, warned the new measures could lead to more children being born with congenital defects.
Masoud Mardani, a member of Iran’s national AIDS committee, cautioned on November 9 that the law would contribute to an increase in HIV infections and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Reform activist Azar Mansouri was also cited in domestic media as warning that the bill would lead to increased illegal abortions, saying these would harm women above all.
Following the 1988 Iran-Iraq war, the authorities in Tehran considered various birth control policies and in 1993 encouraged couples to have only two children, a move that quickly yielded results.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei subsequently declared the adoption of child control policies an “error,” describing population growth as an indicator of “national strength.”
“If God wills it, the population of the country will reach 150 million,” he said in 2018.
Early this month, Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf defended the law, saying it would support “young couples and mothers.”
Iran enacts population law seen to limit women’s health care
https://arab.news/6hqz2
Iran enacts population law seen to limit women’s health care
- The law renders reproductive screening optional, imposes restrictions on abortion and limits access to contraception, while providing added benefits to families with more children
- The law has been criticised by United Nations experts, as well as by women's rights activists and other rights groups
Ceasefire with Kurdish-led force extended for another 15 days, Syrian army says
- The defense ministry said the extension was in support of an operation by US forces to transfer accused Daesh militants to Iraq
- The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed the ceasefire extension
RAQQA, Syria: Hours after the expiration of a four-day truce between the Syrian government and Kurdish-led fighters Saturday, Syria’s defense ministry announced the ceasefire had been extended by another 15 days.
The defense ministry said in a statement that the extension was in support of an operation by US forces to transfer accused Daesh militants who had been held in prisons in northeastern Syria to detention centers in Iraq.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed the ceasefire extension.
“Our forces affirm their commitment to the agreement and their dedication to respecting it, which contributes to de-escalation, the protection of civilians, and the creation of the necessary conditions for stability,” the group said in a statement.
Over the past three weeks, there have been intense clashes between government forces and the SDF, in which the SDF lost large parts of the area they once controlled.
Earlier in the day, the Kurdish-led force called on the international community to prevent any escalation.
The end of the truce came as government forces have been sending reinforcements to Syria’s northeast.
Syria’s interim government signed an agreement last March with the SDF for it to hand over territory and to eventually merge its fighters with government forces. In early January, a new round of talks failed to make progress over the merger, leading to renewed fighting between the two sides.
A new version of the accord was signed last weekend, and a four-day ceasefire was declared Tuesday. Part of the new deal is that SDF members will have to merge into the army and police forces as individuals.
The SDF said in a statement Saturday that military buildups and logistical movements by government forces have been observed, “clearly indicating an intent to escalate and push the region toward a new confrontation.” The SDF said it will continue to abide by the truce.
On Saturday, state TV said authorities on Saturday released 126 boys under the age of 18 who were held at the Al-Aqtan prison near the northern city of Raqqa that was taken by government forces Friday. The teenagers were taken to the city of Raqqa where they were handed over to their families, the TV station said.
The prison is also home to some of the 9,000 members of the Daesh group who are held in northeastern Syria. Most of them remain held in jails run by the SDF. Government forces have so far taken control of two prisons while the rest are still run by the SDF.
Earlier this week, the US military said that some 7,000 Daesh detainees will be transferred to detention centers in neighboring Iraq.
On Wednesday, the US military said that 150 prisoners have been taken to Iraq.
