The International Labour Organisation has declared 12th June as World Day Against Child Labour. World-wide it is estimated that 168 million children are forced into work but in many countries, such as Iran, it is difficult to get accurate figures.
The Islamic regime in Iran is well known for huge numbers of Iranian children working, even though the government denies it. They claim most of the children working in Iran are Afghan immigrants, but everywhere you go you see evidence of millions of Iranian children labouring, mainly working in factories, especially shoe and clothing factories, glass factories , brickworks, clambering over dangerous rubbish heaps packing and recycling trash, agriculture, shoe polishing, street peddling, domestic work, child prostitution, and many more.
A dire economic situation in Iran, compounded by the effects of sanctions, has affected the lives of everyone. Redundancies and factory closures are impoverishing families and driving more and more children into the working class early. Children in Iran have very few rights anyway. Sexual relations with young people are legal from age 13, and female children can be married off at 9. The age at which young people can be executed has been raised to 18 but all that means is that they are kept in prison until they reach execution age.
The International organisations such as ILO have condemned the government and laws that ignore children’s lives. The Islamic regime persecutes anybody who wants to do something about child labour. Behnam Ebrahimzade is one of them, he was a member of a children’s NGO in Tehran where he was supporting immigrant and Iranian children forced to work. Imprisoned in 2010 he has continuously been under physical and psychological torture, with severe effects on his health, while Behnam’s only child is undergoing treatment for leukaemia. We call for his release from prison and for the release of all campaigners against child labour.
The Iranian capitalists and their Islamic regime profit from child labour, as it creates a huge reservoir of cheap labour. It is a central element in the capitalist system in Iran. The work of many NGOs and individual campaigners is heroic and draws attention to the terrible abuse of children but child labour will not disappear until capitalism itself is abolished.
Wafa
