A report produced by the Small Media Foundation, which looks at Iran’s track record in keeping up with its obligations under the UN Convention On The Rights Of The Child is set to launch on 10th October, 2017, ahead of UNICEF’s International Day Of The Girl Child.

The launch is being co-hosted by the Persia Educational Foundation, a UK based charity which advances the right to education for Iranian children all over the world. Executive Director of Persia Educational Foundation, Tahirih Danesh, who is also a Senior Research Associate at The Foreign Policy Centre spoke to Researching Reform ahead of the launch:

“The education of girls, as future decision makers at home, workplace and the society at large has a direct impact on the survival of the entire human race. The character, civic and academic education of a girl child only helps to improve life for all around her regardless of gender, race, religion or economic stance.” 

The report, which is called “Wasted Youth: Children’s Rights in Iran”, identifies a number of areas in which Iran is failing to live up to its obligations to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. These include guaranteeing the rights of children to health, education, and protection from violence.

The findings will be unveiled by Small Media Foundation’s Research Manager, James Marchant, and a panel discussion will follow about the main child rights challenges in Iran today.

The Panel features renowned and highly regarded child rights experts:

• Zarin Hainsworth OBE, an internationally recognised expert and an advocate for the rights of women and girls. She is well known for her work throughout the MENA region as well as her strong role in advocacy and policy advice within the UK, EU and the UN mechanisms.
• Diana Nammi, author, Founder and Executive Director of IKWRO. She is an internationally known figure involved in defence of the rights of minorities, in particular women and girls.
• Nazee Akbari, an established therapist, an academic and the Executive Director of Barnet Refugee Services. She travels to Iran often and works with children and young people.
• Caoilfhionn Gallagher, a public law specialist at Doughty Street Chambers with particular expertise in children’s rights and human rights related judicial review. She is recognised as a Leading Junior in Public Law, Human Rights and Civil Liberties by the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.

The event, which is being held at University College London at 6pm, will also see the launch of Persia Educational Foundation’s Wristband Campaign in support of its Mirzakhani scholarship fund, which offers Farsi speaking women the chance to enrol at a number of top universities to study a STEM subject. The campaign invites citizens around the globe to support children’s right to education.

There has been an overwhelming response to attend this launch which is now fully booked, so in order to make sure those unable to attend can be a part of the evening, the organisations involved have very kindly set up live feeds for the night. You can watch the launch over on Facebook at:

facebook.com/Persia.Education and facebook.com/SmallMedia

Researching Reform is very lucky to have been given the opportunity to attend this launch, so we will also be sharing the evening with you on Twitter. You can catch our tweets, photos and live videos over @SobukiRa. Don’t forget to use the hashtags: #DayOfTheGirl #SDG4 #SmallMedia #PersiaEducationalFoundation #WastedYouth, if you’re going to be on Twitter too.

For event and media inquiries please email: info@persia.education

For report inquiries please contact: james@smallmedia.org.uk