TEHRAN – Some 20 governmental and non-governmental institutions are responsible for the realization of children's rights in the country, and the Ministry of Justice monitors the responsible bodies.

Children’s rights are a public demand, and our main goal is to draw the attention of government officials, institutions, and the public to this issue, deputy minister of justice Fattah Ahmadi said.

The Ministry of Justice plays a coordinating and policy-making role in the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Iranian government is also a member of, and monitors the actions of all institutions responsible for the rights of children, he explained.

Under the law, the employment of children aged 15 or younger is prohibited in Iran.He went on to say that the rights of all children, including orphans and those with needy families, children involved in drugs, or those who have missed education, labor, and street children, should be taken into consideration by the related institutions.

In this regard, in addition to the national reference center of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Tehran, the corresponding child rights authorities have also been set up in the provinces, he added.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak crisis over the past two years, the issue of children missing out on education is a priority because a number of children were away from continuous education, he said.

We always regularly and periodically submit reports to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child based in Geneva. We are also obliged to participate in the annual children's rights summit in March of each year and present our achievements in the field of children's rights and confronting challenges in this regard, he explained.
Despite laws banning child labor, available statistics show that over the years, many children have worked in underground workshops, on the streets, or scavenging on rubbish dumps.

According to data released by the Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child in 2021, there are about 14,000 dumpsite pickers in Tehran, of which 4,700, or one-third of them, are children.

The Welfare Organization announced in 2020 that there are an estimated 70,000 street children in the country. Of course, given that the conditions of children working in workshops are different, there are no exact statistics.

Under the law, the employment of children aged 15 or younger is prohibited in Iran and there are also restrictions on types of jobs that persons between 15 and 18 years can do. For example, no child is allowed to work on jobs that pose occupational health hazards.

FB/MG