Secretary of the Iranian Society for Child Rights: We Do Not Have Accurate Statistics on Child Labor

The Secretary of the Iranian Society for Child Rights has stated that there are many underground workshops, making it impossible to provide accurate statistics on the status of child labor in these workshops. Aryan Ghasemi, in an interview with the ILNA news agency, mentioned that it is also difficult to provide accurate statistics regarding the nationality of child laborers, as some of these children do not have identification documents. He emphasized that challenges such as economic and social issues, as well as the lack of a clear definition of child labor, exist in this sector. Ghasemi identified the main challenge as the fact that children engage in work that is fundamentally unrelated to the legal system and is more focused on societal realities. This official stated that the ratification of new international treaties and conventions related to child labor is one of the most important responsibilities of governments in terms of legislation and combating child labor. On November 1, 2022, Mohammad Reza Heydarzadeh, the head of the Social Victims Affairs Office of the Welfare Organization, stated that 7,000 child laborers and street children have been identified in the country and have received services from these centers, while estimates suggest there are 14,000 child laborers and street children in the country. According to him, 70% of these foreign nationals are undocumented and lack identification documents, and the Welfare Organization cannot provide services in the areas of empowerment and education to these children, who can only benefit from non-material support from the organization. On July 19, 2021, Vahid Qavadi Dana, the head of the Welfare Organization, stated that "12,000 child laborers and street children were receiving daily services from the Welfare Organization. With the cooperation of NGOs, this number has increased to 16,000." Reports indicate that since last year, thousands of families from Afghanistan have entered Iran to escape the Taliban regime, and some of their children have been drawn into street work. The Iranian Welfare Organization reported earlier this spring that 120,000 child laborers have been identified, with 14,500 of them being street children. Previously, Mehrdad Darvishpour stated in an interview with VOA that "child laborers in Iran face conditions far worse than slavery." Zahra Rahimi, the CEO of the Imam Ali Society, also stated in an interview with VOA that child labor in Iran is intertwined with "poverty and addiction."