Kurdpa Agency: The unprecedented extent of sexual exploitation of child laborers and the increase in addiction rates among them in recent years has confronted Iranian society with multiple challenges.
The security context of the Islamic government and the presence of intelligence agencies even within Iranian social institutions has prevented researchers from obtaining accurate statistics and calculations of the extent of social harms spreading in Iran. However, despite these circumstances, there are activists and researchers who, under such extremely difficult conditions, have not forgotten their commitment to society and humanity and have not hesitated to speak the truth.
According to ILNA news agency, on the third of Ordibehesht, in a joint roundtable with the presence of labor activists and child rights advocates, “child labor” was pathologized and various dimensions of this issue were examined. Zahra Seyadi, a labor activist, announced during this meeting: “Previously, the problems and harms faced by working children were far less complicated, but nowadays, in addition to the aforementioned problems, the issue of addiction and hidden and overt sexual harassment has been added, which has worsened the situation and made the issue far more complex.”
Seyadi added: “Another important issue is that we must remove the stereotype from the image of child laborers, because nowadays working children are not only on the streets. We are faced with many children who work in home-based jobs and small workshops and are even in some cases exploited by their parents or close relatives.”
Hadi Shariati was another analyst present at this meeting who referred to the ineffective and deceptive role of various Iranian governments in preventing and eradicating the problem of “child labor” and said: “Conditions have worsened and harms have increased significantly. I see one of the roots of this problem in the sloganization of the support system. Another problem is that the main authority responsible for protecting child laborers is not clearly defined either in law or in practice.”
Seyadi also referred to the fruitlessness of civil society organizations’ activities and said: “Unfortunately, many non-governmental organizations have also moved away from their original goals over time and have been drawn toward performative and sloganeering activities.” He also pointed a finger at the incorrect functioning of the Islamic Republic’s state radio and television and criticized it severely, stating: “I want to strongly criticize the functioning of mass media, especially radio and television in this regard. Radio and television, through misrepresentation and distortion of reality, attempt to obscure the factors causing child labor and only address the emotional and unrealistic aspects of the issue. A superficial approach to child labor not only does not solve the problem but can intensify the infrastructure of the crisis by erasing the true face of the problem.”
The unprecedented extent of sexual exploitation of child laborers and the increase in addiction rates among them in recent years has confronted Iranian society with multiple challenges. This is a matter that in the past decade has preoccupied child rights and labor activists with questions to find the roots of this social harm. Hossein Habibi addressed this issue at this meeting and pointed out: “This crisis is one hundred percent the result of the establishment of injustices and unfair distribution of wealth in society, and in such circumstances, all activists must have a single goal, and that is the complete elimination and removal of child labor.”
He considered the government the main responsible party and directed the main focus of activities toward the state, saying: “If by forming civil society organizations, our goal is only to obtain more resources for these children, we must know that this is not a structural solution and will not lead anywhere in structurally solving the problem. Rather, the main priority should be based on the principle that through active activism, we pursue a central demand from the authorities, and that common and central demand is the complete abolition of child labor.”
“Ali Khodaei” points to the shortage of household income and the severe decline in family incomes and mentions it as one of the main factors in the expansion of the percentage of “child laborers” and says: “The working class has problems with livelihood and unemployment, and in such circumstances, children are forced to participate in the household economy process to compensate for household income shortages and are exposed to serious harms.”
Khodaei attacked the Ministry of Cooperation, Labor and Social Welfare as the entity responsible for social support for underprivileged families and added: “This institution not only lacked preventive actions but the policies implemented, especially after the subsidy targeting, have resulted in more child laborers being injected into society.”
