Crimes against Women in Iranian criminal law from the Perspective of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine crimes against women in the Iranian criminal justice system from the perspective of the criteria and requirements of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The main issue of this study is to what extent the rules, institutions, and criminal procedures of Iran in protecting women victims are consistent with international standards and in what areas divergence is observed between them. The research method is descriptive-analytical and survey type. In the theoretical part, legal texts, international documents, and legal perspectives were analyzed, and in the field part, data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. The statistical population included law professors, attorneys, judges, and graduate law students in Tehran, from whom 210 people were selected through purposive sampling. Descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used to analyze the data. The findings showed that from the respondents' perspective, Iran's criminal laws are somewhat aligned with international standards in criminalizing some forms of violence against women and providing some form of support to female victims, but there is a significant gap in areas such as equality in criminal proceedings, women's judicial employment, how to deal with domestic violence, and eliminating structural discrimination. The majority of respondents also believed that jurisprudential, cultural, and legislative barriers are among the most important factors in perpetuating this gap. Overall, the results of the study indicate that achieving effective criminal protection for women requires legislative revision, modern jurisprudential interpretations, and strengthening political will to further align with international standards.