Iran: Troubling New Trend Puts Children in Crisis

Source: Mission Network News, January 17, 2022

According to Humanium.org, more than 100 Iranian children die from famine, street fights, and illness each month. These aren’t the only dangers threatening Iran’s next generation.

In an unexpected move, Iranian leaders recently acknowledged the exploitation of children. However, Heart4Iran’s Jennifer Shamoon says the data is vastly underestimated.

“Iranian officials reported about 4,600 children were living in poverty and collecting garbage on the streets of Tehran to sell,” Shamoon says. “When Iranian officials announce a number, you can double it because they’re not telling the truth. They’re trying to mask everything.”

[Recently] a state-run media outlet blamed poverty for increasing child marriages. Zahra Nejad Bahram, a women’s rights activist, told the outlet:

“We are witnessing the rise of child marriage in society. Some officials openly encourage child marriage. According to published statistics, the number of child marriages in 2020 and spring 2021 has increased sharply in different parts of the country.”

“When there isn’t a strong family, these people (children) are not being protected, and they are being abused in different ways,” Shamoon says.

The full story includes links to sources. Note that officials claim up to 95 percent of at-risk children are Afghan refugees.

See also Hunger Crisis Forces Afghan Parents to Sell Children for Food (World Vision) and read another Mission Network News story about children at risk, which reports Uganda has reopened schools after nearly two years.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Missions Catalyst welcomes comments, especially those that provide additional insights on a topic or story as a help to other readers. We reserve the right to screen comments and may provide light editing. Note that comments including links may be delayed so we can make sure they are not spam; we hope you will include relevant links, anyway!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.