Human Trafficking in [Iran] [other countries]
Street Children in [Iran] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Iran] [other countries]
 

Child Prostitution

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

Islamic Republic of Iran [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

The Islamic Republic of Iran [map], located in SW Asia, is bordered by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and the Caspian Sea (N); by Afghanistan and Pakistan (E); by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman (S); and by Turkey and Iraq (W). The Shatt al Arab forms part of the Iran-Iraq border. Its capital and largest city is Tehran. Iran has one of the highest rates of drug usage in the region. In addition to its social and economic consequences, drug use is emerging as a major contributor to HIV infection and AIDS. Relatively high oil prices in recent years have enabled Iran to amass some $30 billion in foreign exchange reserves, but have not eased economic hardships such as high unemployment and inflation. The proportion of the economy devoted to the development of weapons of mass destruction remains a contentious issue with leading Western nations.

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Quick Search for Missing Children - Select Gender, Country (Iran), and Years Missing

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – According to foreign observers, women and girls are trafficked to Pakistan, Turkey, and Europe for sexual exploitation. Boys from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan were trafficked through the country to the Gulf states. Afghan women and girls were trafficked to the country for sexual exploitation and forced marriages. Internal trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced labor also occurs.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2005

[70] The Committee is concerned about reports of trafficking and sale of persons under 18 years of age, particularly young girls from rural areas, facilitated by "temporary marriages" or "siqeh" - marriages which last from 1 hour to 99 years. It is also concerned at reports of the trafficking of such persons from Afghanistan to Iran, who are apparently sold or sent by their families in Afghanistan for exploitation, including cheap labor.

Iran street children rights, human rights

The prostitution of children also has surfaced as a matter of concern. In 2000, Iranian authorities closed down six brothels in Tehran and arrested 35 people, including some minors. Every day, an average of 45 Iranian girls (Mostly under 18) run away from home to escape poverty, abuse, and social imprisonment. Though some are picked up by the police and brought to welfare organizations, many falls into the hands of organized prostitution rings or drift into crime and the sex trade (they were transported to other countries such as UAE for rich Arabs or to Afghanistan and Pakistan to work as prostitutes; some simply disappear. Police in Tehran reportedly round up 90 runaway children every day in average, and as of September 2001, more than 900 girls and 700 boys (the age between 10-18) were reported to have fled their homes in Tehran. Often times, the young runaways are raped or even killed by criminal Gangs in Tehran. According to some recent reports, one young woman in Tehran is raped and murdered every 6 days, as criminals increasingly take advantage of runaways children.

Iran signs protocol on child rights

Iran has signed a document, committing itself to the Optional Protocol of UNICEF's Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki signed the protocol on the sidelines of the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. The Optional Protocol deals with the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for Action [DOC]

[B] COUNTRY UPDATES – IRAN – There have been delays in addressing CSEC, as other fields of children rights have been given priority in Iran and also because CSEC has not been regarded as a widespread phenomenon. Therefore, no official actions have been taken that would exclusively address prevention and the protection of sexually exploited children. However, the NGO Organization for Defending Victims of Violence stresses that the issue of CSEC is now included in the work of the national Committee on the Rights of the Child. Moreover, the Organization for Defending Victims of Violence is currently shaping a plan to study the dimensions of commercial sexual exploitation nationwide.

Report by Special Rapporteur [DOC]

[47] The Government is currently considering ratifying the OP/SOC.  The sale and trafficking of children is a criminal offence in Iran under the Civil Code, but there have been no known cases during 2001 and 2002.  Child prostitution and child pornography are criminal offences in Iran and children involved who are under 18 years of age and who are mature according to Islamic jurisprudence will be tried in the Juvenile Court according to the criminal procedure.  For other children, article 49 of the Islamic Criminal Code stipulates that if a child commits a crime he/she will not be held criminally liable. Such children are sent to correction and rehabilitation centers affiliated to the judiciary, which will study and consider their cases and provide appropriate assistance. According to data and information received from Judiciary Complex for Children, 1,339 cases of child prostitution were reported during 2000 and 2001.

Political Executions, Child Prostitution, and Forced Marriage at the Age of 9

Child prostitution has risen 635 percent in recent years. Dozens of Iranian girls are brought to Karachi, Pakistan, to be sold as sex slaves every day. Reports in Tehran newspapers indicate that senior government figures have been involved in human trafficking. There are at least 300,000 runaway girls in Iran.

Child Prostitution Ring Run By Revolutionary Guards Officers Uncovered In Iran

A number of government officials and security officers were arrested during raids on at least five houses used as brothels in and around the town of Neka (northern Iran). The raids, conducted during the past two weeks, uncovered several organized child prostitution rings running the brothels. Many runaway girls, some as young as 13, were being forced into prostitution by these gangs.

Fear of imminent execution/fear of flogging

“Leyla M", who has a mental age of eight, is reportedly facing imminent execution for "morality-related" offences arising from her being forced into prostitution as a child. According to a Tehran newspaper report of 28 November, she was sentenced to death by a court in the central Iranian city of Arak while she was 18.

Human Trafficking and Forced Prostitution

This abhorrent form of exploitation does not confine itself to adult women, but extends to children as well. The head of the Tehran province judiciary asserts that traffickers looking to sell women in the international market target girls between 13 and 17, although some of the girls are reported to be as young as 8 and 10. The younger girls are often forced to work as maids until slave traders deem them old enough to work out of clubs, motels, or brothels.

Iran's Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children

The prostitution of children also has surfaced as a matter of concern. In January 2000, Iranian authorities closed down six brothels in Tehran and arrested 35 people, including some minors. Every day, an average of 45 Iranian girls run away from home to escape poverty, abuse, and social imprisonment. Though some are picked up by the police and brought to welfare organizations, many falls into the hands of organized prostitution rings.

Proposal Debated For Solving Prostitution With 'Chastity Houses'

Prostitutes wear their veils loosely over their heads in a style that passes for risqué in this strictly regulated society. With their faces heavily made up, they stand at traffic circles where men driving by can inspect them and make a deal. The women are often young, including many teenagers who have run away from abusive homes. Based on official figures, there are some 300,000 women who work as prostitutes in Iran. And according to newspapers, the number is steadily rising, despite frequent police crackdowns. Now, some senior religious figures are suggesting the only way to solve the problem is to bring it under state control. In recent weeks, several prominent conservative clerics have proposed that prostitutes be placed in government-run shelters for destitute women to be called "chastity houses," where male customers could briefly marry them under Islamic law.

5.1 Middle East - State of CSEC/ Attitudes toward CSEC [PDF]

While Israel, Jordan and Lebanon indicate a tacit willingness to address the issue, the majority of the countries in the region have not conducted research and deny the possibility that children are being sexually exploited for commercial purposes. Open discussions of sex related issues are regarded as a social taboo thus further explaining the lack of research and acknowledgement of CSEC. While the extent of child prostitution in the Middle East region is unknown, anecdotal evidence indicates that there is a large problem in selected areas of the region.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children - Middle East/North Africa region

These countries also have in common, however, a number of constraints that have hindered preparation of national plans of action. In all the countries of the region, there is cultural resistance to addressing the problem because the subject is largely taboo. Often the issue is dealt with more generally under headings such as ‘violence’ and ‘trauma’. This means that there has been no regional consensus on defining CSEC in law; in some countries, for example, it is looked upon as an indecent act, in others as rape, although in all 20 countries there is some section of the penal code that can be invoked against sexual abuse and exploitation.

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Human Trafficking in [Iran] [other countries]
Street Children in [Iran] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Iran] [other countries]