Thousands of Students Sent to Operational Areas in Violation of Child Rights Convention
Contrary to the commitments and child rights convention, thousands of students from Fars and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces were sent to operational areas.
According to the child rights convention, a child is defined as a person under 18 years of age. Iran joined this convention in 1994. According to this commitment, the use of children and adolescents in military affairs is prohibited, while sections on child labor, punishment, execution and legal marriage of children, as well as military training and employment of persons under 18 years of age by the Iranian government are being ignored.
Now, contrary to Iran’s international commitments under the accession to the child rights convention and the section on non-employment of children in military affairs, 12,000 students from Fars province and 1,712 students from Sistan and Baluchestan province were sent this year to a camp called “Rahian-e Noor” in the southern operational areas of the country.
The Basij, responsible for organizing the Rahian-e Noor camp in Fars province, also announced the dispatch of thousands of students to the so-called Rahian-e Noor camp. According to the statements of “Omid Hosseini,” the sent students visited the “Fakkeh” channel, “Kamel” channel, “Fath-ol-Mobin,” “Alqamah,” “Talaieh,” “Hawizeh,” “Bait-ol-Moqdas,” “Shalmcheh,” “Air and Space Exhibition,” and “Meraj-e Shohada.”
“Nader Shahrokhi” in Sistan and Baluchestan also stated regarding the dispatch of students to operational areas: “The sent students visited the memorials of Hawizeh, Dehlavi, Nahr Khein, Shalmcheh, and Arvand.”
The dispatch of students to operational areas has provoked widespread reactions, with some people stating that the Iranian government intends to use children in a potential war, similar to when they were used in suppressing nationwide protests.
It should be noted that the dispatch of students was not based on their full willingness and consent, and some of them were even afraid to participate in the said camp, but no information has been released regarding their dissatisfaction.
