Abused women are often left without support in Iran

Approximately one third of Iranians who seek asylum in Finland talk about gender-based or honour-related violence in their asylum applications.

This is revealed by the asylum interview records of 2014, examined by the Country Information Service of the Finnish Immigration Service. In 2014, a total of 95 people from Iran sought asylum in Finland. In January–May this year, the number of applicants was 28.

Legislation and patriarchal traditions discriminate against women

According to a recent report drawn up on the basis of public sources as part of the Suuntaus project, a considerable percentage of Iranian women are highly educated and active in society. However, women continue to face systematic discrimination due to the country’s patriarchal traditions and the gender policy of the Islamic Republic.

“Iranian society has grown more liberal in recent years, but legislation discriminating against women is actually becoming stricter”, says Project Manager, Adjunct Professor Arno Tanner.

Iran’s new population growth policy threatens women’s rights to sexual health and employment.

An estimated two thirds of Iranian women have suffered psychological or physical abuse. Victims of domestic violence generally suffer in silence and avoid talking about the subject due to the shame it causes. Phenomena such as honour-related violence and under-age marriages occur in the margins of society, but the country’s mainstream culture condemns such practices.

More and more marriages nowadays end in divorce, which is generally initiated by women. Getting a divorce may however be difficult, as a court order is needed if the husband objects. Judges’ attitudes vary considerably from one case to another, especially in cases involving domestic violence. In Iran, a divorced woman is consid-red independent in the eyes of the law, but women who do not work and who are in a lower socioeconomic position remain dependent on their families.

Society accepts violence against women

According to Arno Tanner, the Iranian state advocates the ideal of women as humble and self-sacrificing, and campaigns against women who break the traditional dress code and other Islamic norms. A by-product of this is the emergence of a culture in which no punishments are given to men who see it as their right to take matters into their own hands and attack women whom they consider to be immoral.

In the autumn of 2014, the country was shocked by a wave of acid attacks in which men on motorcycles threw caustic acid onto the faces of women unknown to them because of how they were dressed.

“The legal system is run by men, and the police often return women who are trying to escape violence to their homes. There are not enough shelters run by the state and non-governmental organizations, and they do not provide a permanent solution for victims”, Tanner explains.

Themes for country information reports based on asylum interview records

The current theme report is one outcome of the Suuntaus project. Suuntaus is a country information development project funded by the European Refugee Fund. The Country Information Service of the Finnish Immigration Service continuously collects information on the countries of origin of asylum seekers. The information ob-tained assists immigration officials when making permit decisions. Completed and future reports:

Further information: Arno Tanner, Project Manager, tel. +358 295 433 450, firstname.lastname@migri.fi