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Javad Abbasi Toulali

“We now have fourteen million students who, despite all cultural attacks, if necessary, will be on the front lines like the time of the Sacred Defense and will sacrifice their lives.”

These recent statements by Mohammad Bat’haei, the Minister of Education and Training, accurately reflect the fact that the rights of individuals in every age group are defined solely under the banner of a totalitarian regime in the ranks of a unified and widespread people. A regime that strives to shape individuals according to its own purposes and ideas by using the confiscation of all private and public resources. Furthermore, these statements demonstrate the Minister’s disregard for all international conventions and protocols against the shameful phenomenon of “child soldiers”. It was this same ideological and warlike perspective that led to the death of 36,000 child soldiers (Basij student) during the Iran-Iraq war. However, Mohammad Bat’haei’s words are not just limited to government propaganda; on the other hand, his ministry’s actions involve allocating budget and educational resources for the use of students in various security-military projects for the benefit of military organizations. For example, in just one year (2018), approximately seven million people (

Education of children in Iran is accompanied by hostile and warlike projects. These projects, known under titles such as “Promoting the Culture of Sacrifice and Martyrdom,” are aimed at indoctrinating children. For example, the publication “Shahed” has printed 400 high-circulation books for children promoting the culture of martyrdom (2).

Stealing childish joy

Happiness is interpreted as a feeling of security from the perspective of a child. However, promoting a culture of war and massacre and subsequently using children as tools in security-military projects, in the first step, indicates this aspect of a child’s personality. Military training turns children into violent and involuntary robots, depriving them of the concept of “being a child”. With the destruction of childhood, various aspects of these children’s personalities are influenced until the end of their lives. For example, a child-soldier who experiences the front line and armed conflict in the early years of their life will undoubtedly be affected by the psychological damages caused by it in adulthood.

Basij student organization, with encouragement, provocation and of course mandatory registration of students in Basij bases located in schools, systematically recruits students from elementary to higher levels through various military programs. The use of students in Basij camps, employing students in police projects such as street and highway inspections, using children as informants, etc., are only public examples of Basij’s recruitment of students in schools.

Currently, there is no specialized institute or clinic in Iran for the treatment and recovery of Basiji students in order to obtain an accurate estimate of the psychological damage inflicted on children in schools; however, the widespread involvement of children in crime, the decrease in the age of addiction to 12 years old, and so on can all be direct and indirect consequences of these psychological damages on children. Students who are under military training are generally unable to control their emotions and a wide range of consequences of this training can be seen in children.

Ideological distortion

Due to the dominance of Islamic ideology over the education system of children in schools and other institutions, there are many examples of child soldiers who have been trained ideologically and sent to the front lines. The myth-making to encourage and incite children to wear military uniforms and join the front lines has been a continuous project pursued by military organizations affiliated with the government in Iran over the past forty years. From the child from Ardabil who, according to his parents, received the order to wage jihad from Ali Khamenei during the Iran-Iraq war, to the thirteen-year-old defender of the shrine and child soldiers fighting in Syria, they are all victims of the ideological propaganda and education system in Iran. In Iranian schools, by including specific lessons, children are constantly indoctrinated that they too must become warriors to defend and strengthen the ruling system by emulating child soldiers who sacrificed their lives in war. The call for moral change in the face of the decline of moral values in society, instilling

Empty space for child rights activists

In a government that considers any form of enlightenment and efforts for human rights as harmful, and openly shows hostility towards intellectuals, and where media is openly confiscated, seized, and censored, working in the field of children’s rights cannot go beyond charity work and collecting donations. On the other hand, the absence of psychological organizations and institutions for analysis, diagnosis, and treatment of the widespread phenomenon of child soldiers in Iran leaves the hands of the government and its affiliated military institutions free to revive and reproduce the likes of Hussein Fahmideh, Marhamat Balazadeh, Hassan Jangju, Mehdi Tahaniyan, and others, with a clear conscience, at the expense of millions of Iranian children. Without exaggeration, children’s rights in Iran are being violated on a daily basis and from official government platforms. Not only is it necessary to defend the rights of these children, but it is also essential to prevent this trend as a guarantee for the security of society now and in the

Notes:

1. More than 7 million people were sent to the path of light in 1397, the website of the Foundation for the Preservation of Sacred Defense Monuments and Values, 2 Ordibehesht 1398.

2. Unveiling of the new releases of Shahed Publishing, ISNA News Agency, 29th of Aban month, 1397.