A Friday report by the United Nations says Iran is using advanced technology, including drones, facial recognition and a citizen-reporting app to crack down on violations of its mandatory hijab laws.

A key element of the effort is the government-backed Nazer app, which enables the police and "vetted" members of the public to report alleged violations by women in vehicles, including those in ambulances, mass transit and taxis.

The report describes the app as allowing users to upload the vehicle license plate, location and time of an alleged violation. It then, according to the report, alerts police. Then, according to the report, the app "triggers a text message (in real-time) to the registered owner of the vehicle, warning them that they had been found in violation of the mandatory hijab laws, and that their vehicles would be impounded for ignoring these warnings."

According to the report, authorities are using drones in Tehran and the southern part of the country to monitor hijab compliance in public areas, as well as new facial recognition software said to have been installed last year at the entrance of Tehran’s Amirkabir University.

The report is to go to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday.Iran increasingly relies on electronic surveillance and the public to inform on women refusing to wear the country's mandatory headscarf in public, even as hard-liners push for harsher penalties for those protesting the law, a United Nations report has found.

The findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, released on Friday, come after it determined last year that the country's theocracy was responsible for the "physical violence" that led to the death of Mahsa Amini. 

Her death led to nationwide protests against the country's mandatory hijab laws and the public disobedience against them that continues even today, despite the threat of violent arrest and imprisonment. "Two and a half years after the protests began in September 2022, women and girls in Iran continue to face systematic discrimination, in law and in practice, that permeates all aspects of their lives, particularly with respect to the enforcement of the mandatory hijab," the report said. 

"The state is increasingly reliant on state-sponsored vigilantism in an apparent effort to enlist businesses and private individuals in hijab compliance, portraying it as a civic responsibility."