A/HRC/25/61 Finally he would like to raise the issue of the Kulbars, who are still being shot at by Iranian guards in large numbers, and of the land mines in the region, which have still not been cleared by the Government. Ms. “Suha” Association for Kurds living in France Women in Iran face discrimination due to Islamic Sharia law in the country, but it is worse in Kurdistan because of local and tribal practices, and well as the lack of economic development in the region. There is a very high rate of self-immolation suicides of Kurdish women. Most girls in the rural areas do not go to school, and many girls are married off at very young ages. Many other Kurdish women are themselves Kulbars. There is also a very high divorce rate among Kurds, and she would say that one of the reasons for this is the very bad social situation in Iran, including high rates of addiction to drugs. There is also a high rate of prostitution in Kurdistan, even though it is against tradition of the region. Women additionally face political repression, although this is partly the result of “positive “integration developments. It is true that there are now women in the Kurdish associations in the region, which is a sign of integration, but they in turn, face political repression as part of the general “denigration” of Kurds by the Iranian Government. There are a number of Kurdish political parties that have now taken up arms, which then means that female political prisoners are treated more harshly, even if they are merely affiliated with these organizations. Mr. “Kazem” Association for Kurds living in France Mr. “Kazem” would like to draw attention to the “horrendous” condition of human rights for Kurds in Iran. Even those protections which are theoretically provided in the Constitution to others are not provided to Kurds. Kurds who are accused of combatting the regime through violent -- physical or civil -- activities are automatically sentenced to death. He would also like to discuss the economic situation of the region. There are six members of Parliament representing the Kurdish regions who have recently resigned in protest over what they claim is a lack of sufficient budget allocation to the Kurdistan Province. For the past year, two percent of the budget was allocated to the Province; in the coming year, it will be 0.7%. The province of Kermanshah is also facing budget cuts. The cultural rights of Kurds are suppressed since they are not permitted to published at all in Kurdish and must use Persian for all administrative affairs. Finally, although the official unemployment rate in Kurdistan in listed as 20%, it is much higher in reality. 96