Iran’s state-linked Etemad newspaper has published a chilling report citing informed sources on cases of physical torture and severe abuse of children in an orphanage in the Tehranpars area of the capital Tehran. The instructors at this center are seminary acolytes, according to the report.
In its publication on Sunday, June 11, the report states that a seven or eight-year-old child in the “Zanjireh Mehr Mandegar Charity Institution” was subject to torture due to bedwetting.
According to a former instructor at this center, The head of the center, in collaboration with another instructor, burned the child’s hands and feet with an iron, according to a former instructor of this center. Subsequently, the child was imprisoned in an old bathroom infested with cockroaches and provided limited dry bread and water, and this process continued for a week.
The accuracy of this report and the “burning of the child’s hands and feet” has been confirmed through several other sources, and “there are also images that prove its authenticity,” according to the Etemad newspaper report.
“This is just one of the horrific stories of this center, and sources say that there have been around 24 orphans residing in this center for months,” the report reads in part.
“The children in the center were strangely afraid of the technical supervisor, and this very person explained the reason for their fear: ‘From the very beginning, I intimidated the children through severe measures. They have been terrified of me ever since. At the beginning, I freightened one of the children and told him that I would take away his tongue, and I struck his mouth repeatedly until it bled. Now these children fear me like death,'” according to the Etemad report citing source whose collaboration with this institution has been confirmed.
Hamed Haghi, the CEO and founding member of the Charity Institution, told Etemad daily: “We used seminary acolytes as instructors. For example, this person [referring to the technical supervisor] used his connections and contacted us. Yes, all of our instructors were seminary acolytes, and we thought they were the best option for this role as instructors and educators.”
Furthermore, according to Etemad, following an investigation the “State Welfare Organization of Iran” confirms these violations and will deal with this center “in its own way.”Based on this report, in recent years, reports of child abuse and punishment in Iran’s privately-run childcare centers, as well as centers for the care of disabled individuals, addicts, and underprivileged groups who need to live in such centers, has increased.
In 2018-2019, reports revealed “sexual abuse” cases at the Moin High School in Tehran resulting in a wave of public reactions.
Additionally, in recent years, numerous reports of child abuse in Iran’s kindergartens have also been published.
Child labor statistics in Iran “increasing day by day”
Marking the World Day Against Child Labor, a member of the City Council in Tehran said the Iranian capital is home to at least 70,000 child laborers.
On June 11, Soudeh Najafi, a member of the Tehran City Council presidium, said that child laborers face various abuses, suffer from physical and mental problems, and their presence on the streets “creates difficulties” for the locals.
According to the semi-official ILNA news agency, Najafi explained that “despite the high number of authorities responsible for this issue, child labor statistics in the country, especially in Tehran, are increasing day by day, and no specific and official institution has been introduced in this regard.”
Marking the World Day Against Child Labor, a member of the City Council in Tehran said the Iranian capital is home to at least 70,000 child laborers. pic.twitter.com/odI9cIvdQZ
— Iran Focus (@Iran_Focus) June 12, 2023
According to Najafi, 80 percent of child laborers on the streets are not Iranian, adding the solution lies in preventing the entrance of foreign child laborers into Tehran and taking decisive measures against child labor gangs in the Iranian capital.
The data presented by this Tehran City Council member was also published in Tehran media outlets last year on the eve of World Day Against Child Labor. However, according to a June 2022 report by the regime’s Donyaye -e-Eghtesad daily, there are 70,000 child laborers across all of Iran, and about 3,000 of them work in Tehran. That report indicated that at least 4,000 children in the country are engaged in collecting recyclable goods and other items that be sold from people’s trash and large garbage dumps.
Since last year, thousands of families have entered Iran from Afghanistan to escape the Taliban government, and some of their children have been pushed into street work.
Earlier this spring, Iran’s State Welfare Organization reported that 120,000 child laborers have been identified, and that 14,500 of them are street children.
Article 79 of the regime’s Labor Law apparently prohibits children under the age of 15 from working.
Based on last year’s statistics, 21 percent of child laborers in Iran suffer from malnutrition, 14 percent have experienced accidents, over 15 percent are subjected to verbal abuse and physical violence from the state security forces, about two percent are victims of sexual harassment, and 23 percent struggle with extreme cold and heat. At the same time, three percent have nowhere to sleep.
Earlier this spring, the State Welfare Organization reiterated its opposition to authorities rounding up child laborers. A senior organization official had said that such a measure would prevent the welfare organization from being able to support them.
In reality, the circumstances of child laborers in Iran are far worse.
These are homeless and poor children who have no other means to make ends meet and are being exploited by regime officials who take advantage of their situation to pocket enormous financial gains.
And as the regime’s corruption continues to take its toll on the country’s economy, Iranian workers can’t afford to send their children to school or make ends meet for their families. As a result, more children are being forced to leave their schools and work as laborers in streets across the country.
