Rally in Mahshahr to confront child abusers
A number of Mahshahr citizens gathered in front of the courthouse following news reports that three children had been beaten in the outskirts of the city. They demanded serious action against child abusers.
Following the publication of news in the past few days about the abuse of three children in their home located in the city of Taleghani, a district of Bandar Mahshahr, a number of Mahshahr citizens gathered in front of the city's courthouse on Tuesday (April 24) and called on judicial authorities to seriously deal with the perpetrators of this child abuse.
According to IRNA, these three children were locked up at home and abused by their parents.
According to Mohsen Beiravand, the governor of Mahshahr, the father of the family confessed to the crime on the first day of the incident. According to Beiravand, he was arrested and sent to prison.
The Mahshahr commander also said that the children's stepmother, who was an accomplice in the crime, has also been pursued and arrested. He added that an investigation into the case is ongoing.
According to published news, two girls and a boy, ages 6, 9, and 12, who were from the father's two previous marriages, were being abused and beaten by him and his stepmother.
The eldest daughter's hand was broken by a hammer blow, and the other children were injured by a hot rod. The children, who were locked in the family's private home, were taken to the emergency medical center after neighbors notified the police.
The mother of two daughters and the mother of the third child have previously divorced the father of the family.
Lack of a comprehensive plan to deal with child abuse
According to statistics published by the Social Emergencies Center of the Iranian Welfare Organization last year, 86 percent of child abuse was committed by the children's parents.
More than six years ago, the government passed a bill to protect the rights of children and adolescents, but the parliament has not yet made a decision on the matter.
Many experts believe that most cases of child abuse occur at home and by family members, and that violence is more prevalent in lower strata of society than in affluent classes.
According to sociologist Seyyed Hossein Hosseini in an interview with ILNA: "Research in Iran shows that the further we move from the economically prosperous classes to the lower and working classes of society, the higher the rate of domestic violence."
According to Hosseini, in Iran, children are "in the hands of their parents, and they are considered to be the owners of the child," and for this reason, any violence may be inflicted on the child by them.
Shahindokht Molaverdi, Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, said about child abuse in Iran, "Most programs in the country are treatment-oriented, and when that is all that is needed, programs are offered to prevent social problems."
Molaverdi expressed concern about the situation of "children who are being victimized without having a voice," saying that there is no comprehensive plan in Iran to deal with the problem of child abuse.
A number of members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly have written a letter to speed up the process of reviewing the child protection bill. The members have noted that the judiciary needs laws that it can rely on in cases of child abuse.
Source: DW
