street children in the country, which all together admitted a total of 6,198 children during the
year, 1,289 of whom were in the Tehran province and 1,075 in Sistan and Baluchistan province.7
The report showed that the provinces of Boushehr, Zanjan and Hamedan do not have such
centers. Comparatively, official statistics estimated the number of children in street situations to
be up to 60,000, 8 while NGOs believe their number exceeds 200,000. 9 In its 2019 National
Report to the Universal Periodic Review, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran stated
that “the center for management of street children of SWO, with the participation of interested
NGOs, provides free protection and welfare services, with two family-centered and of mentalsocial harm reduction approaches.” 10 Additionally, the “Social Emergency of SWO, with its 350
centers throughout the country, provides a variety of supportive services to the child victims of
violence or to the children exposed to maltreatment, child laborers and the street children under
difficult and hard conditions”. 11 There is little information as to the precise nature of the
protection and welfare services the aforementioned centers provide to children in street situation
and to what extent these services are tailored to the various situations and needs of these
children.
In 2014, the Iranian Student News Agency, referring to official statistics, stated that while 34%
of street children were still in school, 40% of them had dropped out of school and 24% had never
attended school in the first place.12 In 2019, the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that 98,5% of
eligible students, including refugee and undocumented children, were offered education free of
charge, and that measures to return the children dropped out of school to education were taken.13
14
According to the Government, “a number of 10,263 of qualified children, who did not have
identity documents, benefitted from the law and were enrolled in the school year of 2018–2019,
4,989 students of whom were girls.”15 However, there is no information as to what extent these
measures concerned children in street situations. Additionally, ensuring that children in street
situation have the possibility to attend school also includes that they do not rely exclusively on
working in the street. Studies have shown that children coming from low-income families tend to
7
Behzisti News, http://www.behzisti.ir/news/11295/
U.S. State Department Human Rights Report 2019, Iran, https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rightspractices/iran/
9
Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://www.iranhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/Days-to-remember-low.pdf
10
National Report, UPR 2019, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1
11
Ibid.
12
Interesting Statistics about Street Children, Iranian Student News Agency published on 16 September 2014 http://
www.isna.ir/fa/news/93062515224/
13
Universal Periodic Review 2019, Islamic Republic of Iran, Response from the State, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/43/12/Add.1
14
UN Press, https://www.un.org/press/en/2018/gashc4232.doc.htm
15
National Report, UPR 2019, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1
8
2