RASC News Agency: The spokesperson for the Tehran Municipality, in reference to a plan aimed at gathering Afghanistani child laborers and waste pickers, has stated that they are being collected from the city and repatriated to Afghanistan.
Accurate statistics regarding Afghan child laborers in Tehran and other cities across Iran are currently unavailable. Approximately a month ago, the Tehran governor disclosed that the number of Afghanistani child laborers and waste pickers exceeds five thousand, with the majority being under the age of fifteen.
According to reports from Iranian media, Mohammad Khani announced on Saturday, March 30th, that the Tehran Municipality has launched a comprehensive initiative to gather addicts, child laborers, and waste pickers from Afghanistan, with both programs scheduled to be executed concurrently.
The issue of expelling Afghanistani child laborers has been previously deliberated. The head of Iran’s National Immigration Organization declared late last month that child laborers from other countries operating unlawfully in Iran would be apprehended and repatriated to their respective countries. This Iranian official referred to a long-term initiative in collaboration with the Welfare Organization and the Tehran Municipality, whereby all child laborers would be gathered and child laborers “of unauthorized nationality” would be repatriated.
In Iran, child laborers and waste pickers are children who scavenge for waste and recyclable materials amidst trash bins and debris. A member of the Tehran Council previously asserted that these children are exploited and utilized by companies contracted by the Tehran Municipality.
He contended that while some of these children earn over one million tomans daily, they endure irreversible physical and psychological harm. According to an educational psychologist, “Forced child labor results in physical ailments such as spinal curvature and musculoskeletal pains. It also inflicts psychological trauma, including diminished self-esteem, humiliation, anger, and anxiety in children.”
He further added that child labor cultivates feelings of helplessness and insignificance, thereby impacting their social interactions and causing significant harm to society at large.
