From poverty to death; achievements of the government of prudence and hope for children / Sayeh Rahimi.
Rising poverty and marginalization, deprivation from education, early entry into forced labor, child marriage, drowning in the hot waters of Sistan and Baluchestan due to water scarcity, child suicide due to reasons such as poverty, ideologically-driven education and policies, detention of children under punitive programs, lack of educational justice, gender discrimination, increase in the number of addicted and HIV-infected children, failure to implement the law granting citizenship to children of Iranian mothers, mismanagement after natural disasters, security crackdowns on children’s support organizations, and the demand for the dissolution of Imam Ali Student Population are just some of the achievements of Hassan Rouhani’s eight-year government for children and adolescents. A government that came with promises of reform and hope, but in its record of failure, has recorded the highest rate of child suicide and, in response to criticisms and protests from children’s rights activists, has used its restrictions in the areas of authority and budget allocation as an excuse. However, an evaluation
Absolute poverty, early marriage, and forced labor.
Poverty, economic hardships, social inequalities, and employment crisis are issues that have always existed during the forty years of the Islamic Republic’s existence, and people have faced them in different periods of presidency. Presidential candidates in different periods have also designed their election slogans by addressing these needs and making promises such as solving the employment crisis, eradicating poverty, and establishing social justice in order to gain power, but throughout all these years, the economic situation of the country has not improved to the extent that people’s daily lives have become smaller and children have been affected by poverty and social instability, leading them to be forced into child labor and early marriage. In 2017, the current president of Iran, after being elected, promised that absolute poverty in the country would be eliminated by the year 2021, but this promise had the opposite result, as in 2020 it was announced that the poverty line for a family of four is 10 million tomans per month. Recently, Ahmad T
Marginalized and deprived children
The alarming increase in housing rent rates, affected by economic problems, has led to an increase in marginalization in the country. Despite the rise in housing rent rates, the income of tenants not only did not increase, but also decreased due to various reasons, including unemployment crisis. Last year, the Research Center of the Iranian Parliament evaluated the housing situation, especially in major cities, as turning into a crisis. One of the parliament members spoke about the displacement of some citizens to tent cities due to high housing rent rates. The vice-president of the Tehran Real Estate Consultants Association also stated that due to the crisis of rising housing rent rates, a large portion of the southern part of the city has moved to satellite towns, margins, and dilapidated areas. The mayor of District 22 of Tehran also revealed the increase in rooftop sleeping in Tehran. Apart from those who were marginalized due to their inability to pay exorbitant housing rent fees, other residents of satellite towns included villagers who, due to various
Political education and the upbringing of an obedient generation.
A while ago, one of the members of the research faculty at the Institute for Education Studies reacted to the poor results achieved by Iranian students in the international TIMSS exam, saying: “About 30% of Iranian students lack basic literacy skills, including reading and writing.” Masoud Kabiri listed incorrect policies and lack of investment and planning for education quality as the main reasons for this occurrence.
“We needed to bring up the martyr Hojjaji and this had priority over Hafez and Saadi,” “Iran’s readiness to participate in the reconstruction of schools in Syria,” “Readiness of 14 million students to participate in the battlefield,” “The goal of education is to train soldiers of the new Islamic civilization,” “It is forbidden for students to promote non-official religions,” “Minister of Education’s proposal to Russian counterpart for teaching Russian language in Iranian schools,” “School is not a place for sexual and gender education,” these statements by ministers and education officials in recent years clearly show that
The dream of educational justice and children who are left behind from education.
Educational justice means fair distribution of opportunities and free educational facilities for all children in all parts of the country. This promise, which education officials have repeatedly claimed to be on the agenda in past years, has never been fulfilled. From the torture and exploitation of students for the benefit of the education mafia, to the deaths of children in dilapidated schools, headlines have repeatedly been dedicated to these issues in the past eight years.
The Ministry of Education under the Rouhani government, which had almost no clear and effective plan to attract drop-out students, announced in 2018 the identification of 143,000 drop-out children, using inaccurate statistics. However, the Parliamentary Research Center called the statistics provided by the Ministry of Education “scattered” and stated: “The number of drop-out children is 12 times higher than what the Ministry of Education claims.” This number has also seen a significant increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, with reports stating that around 30-40% of students have
Violence against children in the name of law
“The Law on Protection of Children and Adolescents” obligates various institutions, including the Ministry of Interior, Welfare, Health, and Education, to protect children at risk. The Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare is responsible for taking effective measures to prevent and combat the abuse or exploitation of children. Welfare, as a subsidiary of this ministry, is the main responsible body for supporting social victims, including child laborers. However, this organization not only has a poor track record in protecting child laborers, but has also caused harm to them through failed programs such as the “Organization of Child Labor and Street Children”. Welfare does not have accurate statistics on children working in underground workshops, and their programs do not include any efforts to empower and support these children who are victims of hidden labor in their childhood. The only group that is included in their statistics and programs are “child laborers and street children”, but there is no evidence of targeted and supportive programs for them. The only goal seems
Request for Dissolution of Imam Ali Student Population
One of the most shocking news of the past year, which civil activists refer to as a black and dark point in the record of President Rouhani’s government, was the request for the dissolution of the Imam Ali Student Society by the Ministry of Interior.
The Imam Ali Student Society, as a non-governmental and independent organization, began its work in 1999 with the establishment of its first office at Sharif University of Technology. After ten years of activity, it became a member of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in 2010. This people-based organization has established centers called “Iranian House” in most cities of Iran and in underprivileged and marginalized areas, where vulnerable and disadvantaged children receive support and their families receive assistance and education.
Currently, around 10,000 volunteers work with the Imam Ali Student Society throughout Iran and about 4,000 underprivileged and marginalized children are supported by this people-based organization. However, after the arrest of Sharmeen Memand
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"Rouhani Government's Human Rights Record" Children Monthly Peace Line Magazine Number 120 peace line Saya Rahimi State and human rights