Parliamentary Representative: Sexual Abuse of Children in Iran Has Increased Significantly

A member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly announced that due to a “significant increase” in statistics of sexual abuse of children in Iran, parents who are negligent in caring for their children will face punishments such as fines and suspended imprisonment.

Mohammad Kazemi stated this on Monday, the sixth of Azar, in an interview with ILNA news agency, and announced the latest stages of approving the bill to protect the rights of children and adolescents in this commission.

The vice-chairman of the Judiciary and Legal Affairs Commission of Parliament, citing the increase in what he called “social disorder” in recent years, criticized cases of “child abuse, the crisis of child labor, and begging among children in cities, as well as the remarkable growth of sexual abuse and assault against children.”

According to this representative, the “significant” increase in the statistics of these crimes in recent years “necessitates greater attention to protecting children’s rights,” and the bill to protect the rights of children and adolescents has been prepared with this motivation.

Kazemi added that in this bill, regarding parents who commit negligence in their “religious and legal” duties in matters of education, schooling, and care of children, “a punishment has been considered to prevent such problems from occurring.”

This member of the Hope faction in Parliament referred to the punishments considered for such parents as “fines, suspended imprisonment and similar measures” so that they become “aware of their responsibility” towards their children.

According to him, the bill also provides authority to social workers and welfare officials and law enforcement officials to separate children with negligent parents from them and deliver them to legal centers.

Serious attention to the sexual abuse of children and also in the workplace was mentioned as one of the areas of focus in this bill, and according to Kazemi, “the punishment we have considered for sexual abuse of children is more severe than similar cases involving adults.”

This bill is being completed in the Islamic Consultative Assembly while recently Reza Ghadimi, the chief executive of the Tehran Municipality’s Social Services Organization, presented shocking statistics stating that “90 percent of working children {in Iran} are sexually abused.”

Mr. Ghadimi said on the 14th of Aban of the current year in an interview with ISNA that “unfortunately, of 400 {working children} whom welfare workers have spoken with, approximately 90 percent of them have been assaulted.”

He added that in welfare centers “we discovered that an uncle or aunt of these children would gather family children, they would beg from morning until noon and in the afternoon assault them. This is documented.”

After the remarks of this senior official at the Tehran Municipality became controversial, he himself proceeded to deny his statements and said that he meant mistreatment of working children, and “by mistreatment, I meant keeping children on the street in cold weather, refusing to give them food, blackening children’s faces to elicit sympathy, and not giving them clothes—none of which are instances of sexual assault.”

While the Shahrvand newspaper announced that it has possession of Ghadimi’s audio and he spoke of sexual abuse of 90 percent of working children in Iran, the deputy for social affairs at the Tehran Province Welfare Organization announced that “we do not confirm sexual abuse of 90 percent of working children.”

Ahmad Khaki said in an interview with Shahrvand newspaper that “we have no information about assault on working children. No research has been conducted in this regard. We have no right to intervene in this matter at all, unless a child’s life is in danger.”

From time to time, multiple reports are published in the media about various forms of abuse as well as psychological and physical harassment of children across different parts of Iran.

As the head of the country’s Social Emergency Services reported, based on reports submitted to the organization last year, 60 percent of child abuse cases were committed by the father and overall 86 percent by parents.

Hosein Asadbeigi announced on Sunday, the second of Mehr, in an interview with ILNA news agency, that 1,642 cases, or 60 percent of reported child abuse to “crisis intervention centers,” were committed by the father.

According to Mr. Asadbeigi, among other reported cases, 739 cases, or 26 percent, were committed by the mother, 20 cases by a brother, and eight cases by a sister.

He added that only 1.5 percent of reported child abuse cases were committed by strangers.

Asadbeigi also said that some families conceal the sexual abuse of their children and do not report it to the country’s Social Emergency Services.

Source: Radio Farda