Violation of Children's Rights in the Islamic Republic; 24,000 Students Sent to Operational Areas

More than 24,000 students in Kermanshah province were sent to camps known as 'Rahiyaan Noor' in the operational areas of southern and western Iran during the last academic year. Additionally, this year, plans have been made to send 10,000 students from this province to the 'Rahiyaan Noor' camp. These actions violate the Islamic Republic of Iran's international obligations under the 'Convention on the Rights of the Child,' which includes 'not using children in military affairs.' The Cultural and Educational Deputy of the Kermanshah Education Department announced that, according to the quota, 22,862 students were sent to the Rahiyaan Noor camp in the west and 1,500 students to the operational areas in southern Iran. The head of the Student Basij Organization in Qom province also stated that plans have been made to send 10,000 students from this province to the 'Rahiyaan Noor' camp this year. The commander of the Qom province's IRGC stated that the number of participants sent to the camps in southern and western Iran has increased 'fourfold' compared to previous years. Rahiyaan Noor is the name of a military headquarters and a collection with a cultural-propaganda approach under the supervision of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, which is led by the head of the 'Foundation for the Preservation of the Sacred Defense Values.' Its activities focus on facilitating visits for individuals to the war zones of the 8-year Iran-Iraq War in southern and southwestern Iran. Every year, incidents such as accidents or the overturning of vehicles carrying students, exposure of children to war zones, and hearing ideological narratives from the government about the deaths of people in the war have been reported following these camps, which psychologists say lead to psychological harm for children. Tragic incidents such as the death of three students from Khorasan Razavi province in February 2012, the overturning of a bus and the death of 26 female students from Boroujen in October 2012, or the death of two students from Shahroud in a bus overturning while returning in November 2012 have led to significant criticism of the organizers of these propaganda camps. Data from the Central Headquarters of Rahiyaan Noor, published in the statistical yearbook of the Statistical Center of Iran from 2017 to 2021, shows that over 25.5 million people participated in caravans visiting the war zones of Iran and Iraq over five years. The Open Data Iran database published a report last August showing that the Central Headquarters of Rahiyaan Noor manipulates statistics, meaning that each year a fixed number is considered as the total statistics and then divided among the provinces of Iran as real statistics. In addition to the visit statistics, due to a lack of transparency, the budget and expenses of 'Rahiyaan Noor' are also not precisely defined, but investigations by the Open Data Iran Center have shown that from the beginning of 2012 to 2024, nearly 324 billion tomans from public budget resources have been allocated to the 'Rahiyaan Noor Headquarters.' The ideological exploitation of children by the Iranian government in such programs has always been criticized by human rights organizations. Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic continues to use this method to advance its propaganda goals. The use of children by the IRGC in a military exercise in northwest Tehran, the execution of a 'child offender' in Shiraz and two prisoners in Lahijan, the exploitation of 'contractors' of urban services from 'foreign children,' and the continued silence of municipalities. A newspaper reported on the secrecy of statistics related to 'child marriage'; an 8% decrease in birth rates in two years; over 200,000 students have dropped out of school this year.