Global March Against Child Labour submitted an appeal to H.E. Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran to draw attention to the plight of Iranian children. The letter, written by Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of Global March,  was submitted at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New Delhi, India and received by Hassan Mohseni Fard, Second Counselor, Political Affairs.

Currently, there are 1.5 million Iranian children who are forced to live on the streets and a further 3 million children who are out of school. The letter draws special attention to Article 27 of “ The Protection of Children and Adolescents with No Guardian or Abusive Guardian” passed by Iran’s Parliament which permits the adoptive parent to marry the adoptive child leading to physical and sexual abuse of children at home thus violating the very spirit of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international legislations. Global March also condemns the Islamic Republic Civil Code which sets the legal age of marriage in Iran as 13 and 15 for girls and boys respectively. Global March through this appeal puts forth a series of demands before the Head of the State to secure the rights of the children in Iran and thus ensure their well being.

Global March strongly urges the Honourable President of Iran to take serious cognizance of the issues raised in the appeal and take urgent and immediate action keeping in mind “the best interest of the Iranian children”.

Read the full letter