The Age of Child Porters in Iran Has Reached 13 Years Old
Continuing on the difficult path of porters in Iran, reports now indicate that children are engaging in dangerous border smuggling activities while attending school.
In a report published on Monday, the 28th of Bahman, Iran Newspaper conducted interviews with several child porters under 17 years old. Fuad Hasani Savan, a civil activist in Kurdistan, told the newspaper that “unfortunately, the number of children resorting to border smuggling is large, and they typically start working from as young as 13 years old.”
Previously, numerous reports about child porters had been published. For example, on the 27th of Azar, it was reported that a 17-year-old porter died from cold in the Sarv Abad area of Kurdistan. The body of Farhad Khosravi, a teenage porter who had gone missing in the mountainous areas of Sarv Abad, Kurdistan, was found. Additionally, reports about women porters had been published in the media multiple times.
In recent years, dozens of porters who are forced into smuggling due to economic hardship have lost their lives. In addition to dangers such as falling from mountains and freezing, shootings of porters in recent years have claimed the lives of dozens and wounded many others.
This comes even as Iran’s own officials acknowledge that the volume of smuggled goods brought in by porters is insignificant compared to smuggling through other border crossings.
The United States has repeatedly condemned entrenched financial corruption among members of Iran’s ruling class, the plundering of this country’s natural resources by the leaders of the Islamic Republic regime, and the extraterritorial adventures of Iran’s ruling system, considering them among the main factors behind the economic and financial problems of various segments of Iran’s population.
Source: Voice of America
