be close to 200,000 and increasing.8 A significant number of children living and/or working
in the street, or ‘street children’, reportedly spend the nights in parent’s or relatives’ houses,
although a significant number sleep on the streets.9 In 2014, the head of social pathologies’
office at the Ministry of Labor reportedly stated that 45% of street children were between the
ages of 10 and 14.10
To address the high number of street children, the Iranian authorities together with the State
Welfare Organization have been resorting to periodic ‘roundups’ of street children, during
which they are frequently separated from their families and put into care facilities.11 If these
children are found on the street for the third time during these ‘round-ups’, they are removed
from their parent’s custody. 12 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.13 14 According to these
organizations, ‘collected’ children are being kept in inappropriate centers with limited space
and lacking care services.15 16 There is no official and readily available information that
might indicate that the ‘round-ups’ of street children have been successful in addressing the
number of children living and/or working in the street.17 18 In its General Comment No.21 on
children in street situations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child stipulates that States
should “abolish any provisions allowing or supporting the round-up or arbitrary removal of
children and their families from the streets or public places”.19
In 2016, answering to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Government of the
Islamic Republic of Iran stated that a range of relevant stakeholders and organizations had
formed a Council set up to deal with the issue of street children, without precising the exact
extent of its scope of work. The government added that there were 37 centres for street
children in operation in the country and daily care centres, or ‘drop off centres’ were
established in 15 provinces, “where the children could spend their time”.20 In its latest annual
report (March 2018 to March 2019), the State Welfare Organization reported 31 care centers
for 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.21 The report showed that the provinces of Boushehr, Zanjan and Hamedan do not
have such centers. In comparison and as aforementioned, official statistics estimated the
8
Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://www.iranhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/Days-to-remember-low.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318729333_Transnationality_of_Child_Poverty_The_Case_of_Iranian_and_Afgh
an_Street_Children_in_Tehran
10
NGO joint submission, Impact Iran, Committee on the Rights of the Child 2015
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19809_E.pdf
11
Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://www.iranhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/Days-to-remember-low.pdf
12
Radio Farda, https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-child-labor-homeless-abuse/29193727.html
13
ISNA, https://bit.ly/317uMx5
14
Radio Farda, https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-child-labor-homeless-abuse/29193727.html
15
ODVV, http://www.odvv.org/blog-2140-The-Child-Labour-and-Street-Children-Problem
16
ISNA, https://bit.ly/3cZcymL
17
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318729333_Transnationality_of_Child_Poverty_The_Case_of_Iranian_and_Afgh
an_Street_Children_in_Tehran
18
ISNA, https://bit.ly/3seC124
19
General Comment No.21 on children in street situations, Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/GC/21,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/GC/21&Lang=en
20
OHCHR, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16940&LangID=E
21
http://www.behzisti.ir/news/11295/
9
2