Increase in Number of Child Laborers in Iran
According to the latest report from the Center for Statistics and Strategic Information of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, the number of child laborers in Iran has increased at a rapid pace.
Based on this report published on the official website of this government institution, in 2017 (Iranian year 1396), approximately 499,000 children aged 10 to 17 in the country were either employed (410,000 children) or seeking work.
This figure shows an increase of 6 percent and 9.6 percent compared to 2015 and 2016 (Iranian years 1394 and 1395) respectively.
According to the report, more than 336,000 boys and 74,000 girls were employed in 2017.
In fact, nearly 18 percent of all child laborers in Iran are girls, with nearly half of them working in the industrial sector.
The report adds that according to Iranian law, employing children under 15 years old is prohibited, and children between 15 and 18 years old can only be employed under specific conditions.
Among boys aged 10 to 17, most have been recruited into agricultural work, fishing, forestry, industrial production, and construction work.
However, 184 girls were engaged in construction work and 143 boys were working in mining. According to international labor laws, girls’ work in construction and boys’ work in mining is “dangerous and strictly prohibited.”
However, the Labor Ministry statistics show that the number of boys and girls active in these two sectors decreased approximately three to four times during 2015 to 2017 (Iranian years 1394-1396), but employment in other sectors shows an increase.
On the other hand, the report states that the number of street children accepted by the country’s Welfare Organization in 2017 was approximately 5,152 people, which represents a decrease of more than 44 percent compared to 2016.
According to this report, 1.5 percent of all children aged 6 to 19 in Iran are illiterate, and 10 percent of them have abandoned their education midway.
The number of girls who have dropped out of school is slightly higher than boys, accounting for 53.6 percent of all school dropouts.
In total, more than 1.68 million children in Iran have dropped out of school, and 251,000 children are completely illiterate.
The number of school dropouts has also continuously increased over the three-year period from 2015 to 2017 (Iranian years 1394-1396).
Source: Radio Farda
