Abstract
Using the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) in Iran as an illustration, this article explores the continued resistance against girls’ rights in some Islamic countries. The gendered construction of childhood in Iran has resulted in a differential MACR, which for boys is notably higher than that recommended by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, yet for girls is unacceptably low. While breaches of girls’ rights in other areas are defended on the grounds of paternalistic concerns, it is argued that the MACR is a religious-politico decision that, in Iran, upholds the rights of boys but denies the rights of girls, propagating their wider subjugation.
Highlights
This article explores how Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), non-discrimination, is breached by having a gender-specific minimum age of criminal responsibility in some countries
This is illustrated through the low minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) of girls in Iran that, it is argued, should be challenged
The article concludes by proposing practical pluralism as a means to break the deadlock between the secular, universalist UNCRC and specific, relative religious beliefs
Summary
This article explores how Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), non-discrimination, is breached by having a gender-specific minimum age of criminal responsibility in some countries. The article first reflects on the problematic practice of entering reservations to the UNCRC and the particular challenges that arise when there is potential conflict between religious principles and children’s rights.
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