In the first half of this year, 791 babies were born in Iran to mothers who are themselves children and are under the age of 14, indicating that the violation of the rights of children, one of whom is a child marriage is continuing in Iran under the extreme reactionary rules of the mullahs, due to economic poverty or cultural poverty, children are losing their normal childhood and are in physical and mental dangers.
“Mr. Raisi! Stop the motherhood of children”, is the title of a recent article published by Iran’s state-run daily Etelaat about girl children who have become mothers at a very young age.
According to the National Organization for Civil Registration of Iran, the age of mothers who gave birth to these babies in the first half of this year was between 10 and 14 years old. In other words, it is sad to say that Iran has girls who have had children at the age of 10, which they should have been studying and proceeding with a normal life.
This is not the whole story. The report of the Civil Registration Organization adds that in the same period (i.e., from March 20, 2020, to October 7, 2021), 36,562 children were born to mothers aged 15 to 19, of which 18,922 were boys and 17,640 were girls.
Hearing shocking news from Iran has become an ordinary thing and people who are following the situation should be aware not to get used to it. But some news is so devastating that if someone does not take any position on it, it will definitely hurt our dignity.
No common sense or awakening conscience would accept such oppression of children. Naturally, the government, as the large and powerful institution of any country, must enter this crime that is influenced by any social, economic, or cultural issue on children and prevent its continuation by adopting diverse policies and methods, but Iran that is captured by the mullahs is an exception who have no respect to any kind of human rights, let alone the rights of children.
The main culprit of such a situation is the regime’s ridiculous and inhuman laws, observers say. Article 1041 of the Civil Code states that ‘the marriage of a girl under the age of 13 and a boy under 15 is subject to the recognition of the interests of the couples, the permission of their guardians, and the recognition of the court’, according to which, first, the marriage of girls from the age of 13 is immediately free, and secondly, at the age of less than 13, she is also free under the conditions that can be obtained.
The bill to amend this article and change the age of marriage for girls from 13 to 16 has been submitted by the government for nearly seven years but is still under consideration and has reached no point. Just as the child protection bill has reached nothing. Not surprising under the rules of the mullahs.
The shameful argument of the opponents to this bill is that, if in some urban areas the age of marriage for girls is over 25 and even 30 years, allowing children to marry can lower the age of marriage.
According to last year’s statistics, in Iran, more than 9,000 children aged 13 and under are married, and according to the statistics, divorce rates in these marriages are higher than divorces in all age groups, and according to a regime’s official, the country is now facing with the phenomenon of widowed children.
The violation of children’s rights besides the destruction of women’s and girls’ rights has different forms in Iran. Another example of this violation is the murder of children by the father, who has a very light punishment because his father is the guardian, and this, unfortunately, has fueled these crimes.
After the murder of 14-year-old Taleshi girl Romina Ashrafi, who was killed by her father on May 21, 2020, the head of the judiciary at the time (the regime’s current president) announced that the punishment for fathers who murdered their children would be intensified to such an extent that it would be deterred.
Although the regime can impose such punishments, this has not happened so far, informing that all the regime’s promises are worthless.
The ‘obligatory education’ for children is another child’s right that is not respected. There are numerous statistics of children dropout education, the lowest of which is about 200,000 according to the regime’s numbers. A look at the crossroads of major cities and working children shows that a considerable number of children are out of school.
