World Day Against Child Labor

The rate of addiction is very high among families with children in forced labor, said Sara Rezayi, a senior member of Society of Students against Poverty (known as Imam Ali Relief Society). “There is no precise data on the number of street children in Iran but official reports put it at around two million,” she told ISNA on the occasion of World Day Against Child Labor (June 12).

“Nearly half this number are from neighboring countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan, and most of them are aged 10-15 years,” she added. Based on the society’s research, 41% of these children are illiterate, and 37% quit school to work before finishing primary education.

Imam Ali Relief Society is the first nonpartisan student NGO in Iran founded in 1999 and has its office at Sharif University.