Daily Reports of 40 Cases of Child Abuse in Iran

The head of Iran's social emergency center announced that out of 148,000 phone calls made to this center in 2014, 8,664 calls were related to child abuse. According to this official, 40 cases of child abuse are reported daily in Iran. In a report by the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), Hossein Asadbigi, head of the emergency center, stated on Thursday, May 24, that 'of the calls related to child abuse, 5,175 were concerning girls and 3,189 were concerning boys.' Asadbigi had previously reported that 15,000 calls out of 600,000 made to the center in 2013 were related to child abuse. He mentioned that daily in Iran, 40 cases of child abuse are reported to the welfare organization via phone. Meanwhile, Habibollah Masoudi Farid, the social deputy of the welfare organization, also reported on April 21 that seven percent of last year's emergency calls were related to child abuse. These statistics are presented while some government officials and child protection associations have repeatedly stated that there is no accurate data on child abuse in Iran, and many cases, especially abuse by parents, go unreported. For instance, Ahmad Shojaei, head of the forensic medicine organization, stated in 2011 that 'there is no data on child abuse' because 'the child has no refuge and cannot complain about their parents, and families certainly do not complain about themselves.' Meanwhile, Leili Arshad, a social worker and member of the child rights association, previously stated that the child rights association has sought police assistance in many cases of child abuse, but the police say they cannot intervene due to the presence of the father in the family. According to the head of the social emergency center, '80 percent' of child abuse cases are perpetrated by parents. In recent years, some cases of child abuse have received significant media coverage in Iran and on social networks. For example, in July 2014, the release of a video showing an employee of the 'Setayesh' kindergarten in Ardabil pulling a child's hair and throwing them led to the closure of the kindergarten and the arrest of those responsible for this 'child abuse.' Under Islamic Penal Code, penalties for child abuse include imprisonment for up to two years, and in certain circumstances, the perpetrator may face retribution. In the same context, the death of a four-month-old child due to the mother's addiction has raised concerns about child abuse in Iran.