Asia Arianfar: In military courts, the blood of kolbars is declared “wasted” / Ali Kalai

The shooting of Kolbars in the western border regions of Iran has raised serious questions about the right to life, the limits of the powers of armed officers, and the right of victims to seek justice for years. Although the Law on the Organization of Border Trade has set a framework for some of the […]...

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From regulating cross-border trade to the right to livelihood; how is support for border residents achieved? / Lohrasb Kohistani

Let’s say a resident of Marivan applies for a border trade quota. He has submitted his residency documents, but the answer is simply: Your conditions were not met. He does not know which document was incomplete, whether the quota capacity was filled or other people had priority. More importantly, he does not know where to […]...

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Iran’s Commitments to the Right to Life and the Prohibition of the Use of Deadly Force/ Maryam Abedi

Kolbari and fuel bartering cannot be analyzed within the classical framework of informal trade practices; this phenomenon is, first and foremost, a survival strategy in the context of structural poverty, chronic unemployment, and regional discrimination. It was in this context that the “Law on the Organization and Supervision of Border Trade (Kolbari and Melvani) and […]...

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The phenomenon of subsistence smuggling with a view to the incompetent government/Raha Azadi

A failed state is a state that is unable to perform its functions as a state. Such a state is incapable of establishing social order, monopolizing the use of violence, meeting the basic needs of the people of the society, establishing security and the rule of law, and some of its functions are performed by […]...

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From Regulation to Security: Why Kulbari and Sukhtbari Persist Along Iran’s Borders/ Shabnam Moinipour

The adoption of the Law on the Organisation and Supervision of Border Trade (Kulbari and Maritime Trade) and the Creation of Sustainable Employment for Border Residents in 2024 can be understood as a form of official acknowledgement by the Islamic Republic that kulbari, the practice of carrying goods across borders, cannot be viewed solely through […]...

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The hardships and dangers of kolbari, as told by kolbaris/Pardis Parsa

The phenomenon of kolbari has become one of the most painful manifestations of the informal economy in the western and northwestern borders of Iran in recent decades. Kolbari is mainly prevalent in the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah and Ilam. Field estimates show that about 70 thousand people are kolbari in the provinces of […]...

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The Struggle of Fuel Carriers and Kolbars to Earn a Living By Motahareh Jafari

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From acting to smuggling/ Negar Jokar

Kolbari and sukhatabari are laborious occupations that a significant percentage of citizens are engaged in due to the lack of suitable and equal job opportunities. Every year, a large number of kolbars and sukhatabars are injured and killed as a result of military shootings, falling from mountains, and freezing in Iran. On the fifth of […]...

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“Kulbari and fuel smuggling are the result of lack of social justice in Iran / Bahar Abbasi”

On the fifth day of Esfand month, military forces affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the border areas of Sistan and Baluchestan province opened fire on a group of Baloch fuel smugglers. As a result, several of the smugglers were killed or injured. The deceased were fuel smugglers who would buy fuel […]...

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Kulbar; Non-citizenship with the burden of life on their shoulders/ Ronaak Faraji

Kolbari, which has become a familiar concept in the vocabulary of language speakers living in the geographical regions of Iran, has become a symbol of endless suffering and pain for the human beings who originate from the systematic discrimination of the ruling system in the western and northwestern border regions of this geography. Kolbari is […]...

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