By Staff Writer
The trafficking of adults and children is something that happens frequently in Iran. So much so that the relevant authorities are complacent and blasé when informed about new cases. Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery.
Children and women are used for sexual exploitation and others are trafficked for labour purposes.
Furthermore, there have been many reports from Iran about the trafficking of people for organs, cells and tissues.
The U.S. State Department has said that the Iranian government does not meet regulations and international standards with regards to human trafficking. In its latest annual report, the State Department indicated: “The Government of Iran does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.”
Human trafficking in this day and age is something that should never happen. People, mainly women and children, are taken from situations of desperation and given no chance of hope. The selling and buying of children is facilitated by the extreme poverty across the country. Poverty that is getting worse and making many take desperate measures.
Reports indicate that children are being bought by mafia gangs dealing with human trafficking for the price of a very small lump of meat.
The authorities are completely inactive with regards to this horrifying practice and it is allowing the gangs to expand operations.
A member of the city council in the country’s capital, Fatemeh Daneshvar, explained: “In unsafe neighborhoods such as Harandi, children are lost and their parents do not even file complaints. These people have special lives. The parents of these children are indifferent to their absence, since they are basically addicted.” She said that the bodies of children are often found in the streets, frequently with organs missing.
Drug addiction is a problem that is worsening in Iran too. Even among young children. Again, the authorities in Iran are very reluctant to act. It prefers to use the country’s resources to spread terror across the region.
Gangs are making the most of the hopeless situations of many people and will often look for young girls that have become homeless. The babies of the pregnant girls are sold to gangs or individuals abroad. Some girls also go to other gangs or they are sent to brothels.
There are reports of people using young children to beg on the street. The children are sometimes maimed or injured in some way to get more sympathy from people passing by. This includes breaking one of their limbs or by blinding them. Worryingly, this is how some people earn a living in Iran.
Others rent a child and leave it in the street to beg. If the child does not meet a certain quota they will be punished and sent to work in the sex trade or in illegal workshops.
This is just one more example showing how the Iranian regime has lost control and failed to act with regards to pressing social issues.