Iran's Welfare Organization's response to "report of sexual harassment of disabled girls"

In response to reports of sexual harassment of a group of girls in centers for the mentally retarded, the Iranian Welfare Organization has emphasized that it is "seriously pursuing the issue of harassment and, if proven, will deal with the perpetrators through the judicial authorities."

On Saturday, September 1, Mehr News Agency reported that in some centers for the mentally retarded, all of whom are girls, these individuals are being sexually abused.

The news agency, citing employees of one of these centers, revealed that "one of the center's facility staff members sexually harassed a girl multiple times."

The worker, whose identity has not been revealed, stated that the director of the center "did not take any action to defend this girl" after learning about this matter and plans to transfer her to another center.

Mehr News Agency announced the girl's abbreviated identity as "S" and wrote that two other mentally disabled girls had previously been "baited" by an employee at this center.

As stated in this report, these two girls were also transferred to other centers by the center's director, but the "facility employee" of the center who committed such a violation, despite being fired by the welfare organization, has been called back to work by the aforementioned director.

The report also states that the offending employee is himself the father of a "mentally retarded" child.

In another part of its report, Mehr News Agency stated that the director of the aforementioned center "refrains" from introducing the girl to the forensic medicine department to carry out legal procedures and punish the offending employee.

The news agency added, "The director of the center has recently been promoted and wants to resolve the matter privately to avoid discrediting his center."

The report adds that the director in question "asked the center's psychologist to issue a certificate stating that the girl was hallucinating due to mental retardation and that her words were not true in order to clear the record."

Mehr News Agency, in its continuing report, reported on the occurrence of sexual harassment of girls in other centers for the mentally retarded.

This news agency has reported from another center in which one of the officials, along with two other staff members, sexually harassed girls.

One of the girls at the center said, "They don't give us the things that the donors bring us. Then they set conditions for us to get them."

The girl added that "girls with mental and physical disabilities have needs like anyone else. It is natural for them to accept many offers quickly."

Nabiullah Eshghi Sani, former director general of the Unaccompanied Children Department of the Welfare Organization, also said about the occurrence of these incidents in the aforementioned centers, "Studies show that injuries are often caused by people such as guards, gardeners, servants, cleaners, and facility managers."

Mr. Eshghi Sani added that "certainly, in the first stage of selecting employees, controls should occur continuously, and monitoring of employee performance should be annual or even every six months, and this monitoring is not something you do once and that's it."

Sexual abuse and harassment of girls in centers for the mentally retarded in Iran is not a new phenomenon, and reports of this kind are published by the media in this country from time to time.

There are no accurate statistics on the incidence of this type of crime in the aforementioned centers, and usually, the officials of these centers and even the welfare organization are reluctant to provide reports and explanations about these types of crimes and violations.

Children, especially girls, in Iran, like many other countries, are constantly exposed to sexual abuse and harassment, and among them, those children who suffer from mental disabilities are more exposed to these threats.

Mansoureh Karimzadeh, director of the Department of Preschool Child Development at the University of Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, also said on this issue that "mentally retarded children are more vulnerable than normal children."

Ms. Karimzadeh has identified the "lack" of sexual knowledge and education and "emotional dependence on adults" as two important factors in the vulnerability of these children.

He added that "mentally retarded children may not notice sexual abuse for a variety of reasons. These reasons include fear, threats, concerns about losing a caregiver, and unfamiliarity with sexual abuse or physical contact."

Ms. Karimzadeh added that "we must provide the necessary training to parents and these children so that these teenagers do not have such bitter experiences."

The results of a foreign study show that the prevalence of sexual abuse among mentally retarded people varies between 25 and 83 percent, and yet, today everyone accepts that mentally retarded people are at higher risk of sexual abuse.

According to the results of this study, 80% of victims with disabilities are abused more than once, while only 20% of sexual assaults against disabled people are reported.

Source: Radio Farda