Increase in Homeless Women in Tehran; Filmmakers' Campaign for Shelters

While a member of the Iranian Parliament has reported a concerning increase in homeless women in Tehran, a number of artists have formed a campaign called "Cinema of the Eighth: Shelter" to help improve the situation of this social issue. The initiator of this social movement was Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, an Iranian filmmaker who auctioned an award she received for her film "Tales" from the Asia-Pacific region late last year, with the proceeds intended for homeless women. Following Ms. Ghaem Maghami's initiative, several other Iranian filmmakers and artists also engaged in similar efforts, leading to the formation of the campaign "Cinema of the Eighth: Shelter" aimed at organizing the situation of homeless women. Prominent artists such as Jamshid Mashayekhi, Parviz Parastui, Ali Rafiei, Bahman Farmanara, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Hamid Jebli, Habib Rezaei, Homa Rousta, Shams Langroudi, Niki Karimi, Fereshteh Ta'erpour, Kamal Tabrizi, Bahram Radan, and Ahmad Masjed-Jamei have participated in this social movement. Meanwhile, regarding the issue of homeless and unaccompanied women in Tehran, numerous statements have been made by government officials and parliament representatives in recent months. The latest statement came from Fatemeh Alia, a member of the Social Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in an interview with Mehr News Agency. In the interview published on Friday, June 5, she stated that municipalities and the Welfare Organization are the main authorities responsible for organizing the homeless. She noted that based on observations from a night visit two weeks ago, a significant number of the homeless in Tehran are from other cities, many of whom have issues with addiction and drug trafficking; however, there are also healthy individuals among the homeless who are wandering in the city. This parliament member pointed out that there is no accurate statistic on the number of homeless individuals, saying, "The number of homeless is variable, and some of them are sometimes arrested for committing crimes but return to the group shortly after." Her comments about the unclear statistics of Tehran's homeless come at a time when the head of the Social Committee of Tehran City Council recently announced that there are about 15,000 homeless individuals in the city. Fatemeh Daneshvar, a member of the Tehran City Council, mentioned on June 9 that the number of homeless individuals in Tehran was 12,000 in 2013, and in 2014, city managers reported an increase to 15,000, with the latest statistics from the Welfare Organization of Tehran Municipality on April 20 this year corroborating this. The head of the Social Committee of the City Council stated that the outskirts of Tehran have become a refuge for homeless children, announcing, "While we are facing the growth of this social harm in Tehran, the presence of pregnant women and children in critical conditions among the homeless is becoming prevalent." In this regard, Zahra Tabibzadeh Nouri, another member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also requested on May 30 in an interview with Fars News Agency that the Women's Affairs Office of the Iranian Presidency address the situation of homeless women. In another context related to the cultural and social movement "Cinema of the Eighth: Shelter," recently three artists, Reza Kianian, Hossein Pakdel, and Habib Ahmadzadeh, representing the artists involved in this campaign, met with Shahindokht Molaverdi, the Deputy of Hassan Rouhani for Women and Family Affairs. In this meeting, Reza Kianian referred to the statistic of 15,000 homeless individuals in Tehran, including 5,000 women, stating, "People and artists have initiated the cultural and social movement 'Cinema of the Eighth: Shelter,' and now it is the government's turn to show its support." Mr. Kianian also stated, "We do not want to be guardians because our main goal is to draw public attention to this issue, which is one of the major urban problems, as homelessness poses numerous dangers to society as a whole." This Iranian actor emphasized that the issue of organizing the homeless relates to three ministries: Labor, Health, and Interior, and suggested that meetings be held with officials from these ministries. According to ISNA, Ms. Molaverdi also promised that, given the activities of the headquarters in the "Women and Family Affairs Office" of the Presidency, arrangements would be made for these meetings. Regarding the campaign "I am Cinema: Shelter," some artists are expected to donate part of their awards or artworks for the benefit of the homeless, so that these works can be purchased by financial supporters of the program and preserved in the form of a museum; subsequently, the income generated from this initiative will be used to prepare and equip a building for housing the homeless, especially homeless women.