be sent to the street as an alternative income to their household, 16 17 therefore limiting their possibility to attend school, even if access is in theory made possible by the Government. Ultimately, the lack of official and recent information about access of street children to school makes it difficult to assess if governmental measures have effectively ensured that children in street situation have all the possibility to attend school. With regards to adequate health care services, the Government of the Islamic of Iran has taken steps to ensure that all citizens are covered with health insurance.18 However there is no readily available information as to how the allocation of health care services for street children is ensured, notably as most of them are of foreign nationality and/or undocumented.19 The dearth of disaggregated data regarding street children in the Islamic Republic of Iran, including concerning the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and other STD’s to which street children are particularly vulnerable, 20 hinders the development of appropriate measures to provide street children with access to health services. There is, as of now, no information that might indicate that the Islamic Republic of Iran has established mechanisms to facilitate access to health services specifically for street children, including for HIV-positive street children, or that health workers receive specialized training to care for street children. To address the high number of street children, the Iranian authorities together with the State Welfare Organization (SWO) have been resorting to periodic ‘round-ups’ of street children, during which they are frequently separated from their families and put into care facilities.21 If these children are found on the street for the third time during these ‘round-ups’, they are removed from their parent’s custody. 22 Child rights organizations have been reportedly criticizing such plan on the basis that its securitized approach does not address the social and economic root causes of the issue, ultimately leading children to return to the street.23 24 According to these organizations, ‘collected’ children are being kept in inappropriate centers with limited space and lacking care services.25 26 In its General Comment No.21 on children in street situations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child stipulates that States should “abolish 16 The Socioeconomic Status of Street Children in Iran: A Systematic Review on Studies over a Recent Decade Vameghi, Meroe ; Sajadi, Homeira ; Rafiey, Hassan ; Rashidian, Arash Children & Society, 2014-09, Vol.28 (5), p.352-365 referenced in Transnationality of Child Poverty: The Case of Iranian and Afghan Children in Tehran, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318729333_Transnationality_of_Child_Poverty_The_Case_of_Iranian_and_Afghan_St reet_Children_in_Tehran 17 Transnationality of Child Poverty: The Case of Iranian and Afghan Children in Tehran, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318729333_Transnationality_of_Child_Poverty_The_Case_of_Iranian_and_Afghan_St reet_Children_in_Tehran 18 National Report, UPR 2019, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1 19 Ibid. 20 CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4, para. 87, https://undocs.org/en/CRC/C/IRN/CO/3-4 21 Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://www.iranhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/Days-to-remember-low.pdf 22 Radio Farda, https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-child-labor-homeless-abuse/29193727.html 23 ISNA News, https://bit.ly/35SMRle 24 Radio Farda, https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-child-labor-homeless-abuse/29193727.html 25 Organization for Defending Victims of Violence, http://www.odvv.org/blog-2140-The-Child-Labour-and-Street-ChildrenProblem 26 ISNA News, https://bit.ly/35S8pOX 3