To Protect Children's Rights From Being Abused By Parents

Family is the natural entity that best protects children and provides the appropriate conditions for their healthy development. However, parents’ rights in relation to their children should not be misused. To this effect, a considerable number of encouraging initiatives have taken place in order to eradicate discrimination against children and promote equal opportunities between parents and children. A delicate balancing act is needed in order to satisfy both sides: this is one of the main challenges in the domain of family law aiming at protecting children at home from being abused. For a country like Iran, which is both committed to the UN Documentation and obliged to observe Islamic laws and cultural values on the other hand, the maintenance of such a delicate balance is challenging. Taking into consideration the documentation on international human rights at regional and international level as well as the Iranian penal code, the present article carries out a research on the above mentioned issue. Eventually, while safeguarding Iranian national and indigenous values, it suggests ways in which the application of the Iranian penal code can be reconciled with universal standards.