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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The Right to Life in the Shadow of Poverty and Border Repression/Sina Yousefi

Kolbari in Kurdish areas, fuel carriers in Balochistan and other forms of informal and risky employment in other border areas, including Azerbaijan, are part of the economic reality of regions that have faced structural poverty, a lack of sustainable job opportunities and deprivation of development opportunities for years. In these regions, a significant part of […]...

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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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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 “Organization” to Security; Why Do Kolbari and Fuel Carriers Continue to Reproduce on Iran’s Borders? / Shabnam Moeinipour

The passage of the “Law on the Organization and Supervision of Border Trade (Kolbari and Sailors) and the Creation of Sustainable Employment for Border Residents” in 1402 can be seen as a kind of official acceptance by the Islamic Republic that the Kolbari issue cannot be viewed solely in the context of smuggling or border […]...

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