Expert's Assessment of the Social Aspects of the Seventh Development Plan: Expect Confrontations with Social Health

The Ethics Commissioner of the "International Federation of Social Workers" believes that by imposing a security perspective on social issues, we have regressed and should expect confrontations with social health. Hassan Mousavi Chelak told the "Khabar Online" website that when social health was placed under the Ministry of Interior, it meant prioritizing a security perspective, despite years of experience showing that social issues should not be treated as security matters. According to Mousavi Chelak, in the "Seventh Development Plan," instead of relevant organizations and ministries, social issues have been assigned to a ministry that has a security outlook, and "the output is likely to be nothing but emergency ideas." He criticized the government's approach to social issues, stating that in the Seventh Plan, social health is defined under internal security, which, according to the Permanent Laws of Development Programs, means ignoring the organization responsible for social health. Mousavi Chelak also criticized the overlap of responsibilities in the Seventh Development Plan, noting that while there is a Drug Control Headquarters, part of the Seventh Plan refers to a comprehensive plan for controlling and reducing social harms in the areas of addiction, marginalization, divorce, and moral corruption, with the Ministry of Interior introduced as the responsible body. He stated that this effectively nullifies and weakens the Drug Control Headquarters of the Presidency. He emphasized that in another case, the Ministry of Interior's Social Council is supposed to draft a comprehensive plan for empowering female heads of households, while there are only two main bodies for this, one being the Welfare Organization and the other the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee. From Mousavi Chelak's perspective, another overlap created in the Seventh Development Law is the strengthening of the country's social emergency, which has been assigned to the Ministry of Interior's Social Council, while the social emergency has only one responsible body in the country, which is the Welfare Organization. Regarding marginalization, he mentioned that in 2004, a document was approved by the government called the document for the revival, rehabilitation, modernization, and empowerment of dilapidated urban neighborhoods, and an organization named the Urban Regeneration Organization was established under the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development. Despite this, he stated that similar duties have been assigned to the Ministry of Interior's Social Council in the Seventh Plan, which means weakening the Urban Regeneration Headquarters and creating parallel work. Ultimately, he addressed the "harmful" aspects of these overlaps, stating that legalizing parallel work disrupts existing structures and causes confusion, leaving no one accountable. According to Mousavi Chelak, we should expect multiple "emergency plans" in this area that "we all know are doomed to fail." Previously, the head of the Social Issues and Damages Group of the Iranian Sociological Association had pointed out that under the current governance system, he does not see a bright future for "social hope" with the "previous command." Ahmad Bokharaei stated that the "return" of social hope to society depends on "capacities for change," emphasizing that social hope for the future is at a low level. This member of the Iranian Sociological Association noted that "social changes" result from "demands at various levels" from social groups to organizations and even at the macro level, adding that this "outcome" must be "heard, accepted, analyzed," and ultimately "responded to." Recently, the newspaper "Etemad" examined how inflationary conditions and high inflation rates confront those born in the 1970s and even 1980s with a short, transient, sorrowful youth and a type of "rapid, hard, and challenging adulthood." The existing harms and anomalies in daily relationships, family interactions, friendships, and professional relations have increased due to rising inflation, and the newspaper Etemad, citing a field study in this regard, wrote: "Inflation has not only weakened, diminished, and faded the support of families for one another but has also led to artificial relationships." In recent years, Iran has faced soaring inflation, historic increases in the prices of basic goods, and rising housing costs, leading many experts to believe that without fundamental changes in Iran, there is no short-term prospect for improvement. "Neglect of children" has been reported as the most frequent report to the social emergency; a welfare official stated that "COVID-19" has intensified child abuse. A sociologist warned that with the current trend, the future of "social hope" for Iranians is not bright. The impacts of inflationary margins on the lives of Iranians; the parliament is seeking to increase marriage loans by "200 million". Tehran municipality agents attacked a center for reducing harm to homeless women. The Deputy Minister of Education in Qazvin stated that the marriage of "9 and 10-year-old students" has become problematic.