NCRI – Mousavi Chalak, a deputy to state welfare organization in Iran, has acknowledged the increase in women’s poverty forcing them to search through garbage for food.
In an interview with the state-run news agency ILNA on Saturday October 8, Mousavi Chalak said: “one of the issues which has become more evident during the past few years is that there are people who are forced to work on the streets to make a living, among which are beggars and street children.”
This regime’s official added: ”currently we are facing women who are alone and have to work on the streets, in the subway or in the parks in order to make a living and unfortunately this phenomenon is on the rise.”
He stressed that people are more willing to help the female heads of households as well as orphans, while addicted and homeless women are less taken into consideration. He added: “in addition to prostitution and similar activities, one of the ways for these women to make a living, is searching through the garbage for food waste or something that can be changed into cash so as to cover part of their needs.”
Mousavi Chalak pointed to the close relation between poverty and such ways of living and said: “today, we are faced with the abandonment and loneliness of women in big cities, the same way that we see them digging through the garbage. “
Mousavi Chalak said that “this can have several consequences for these women including being abused, being subject to addiction and indecent acts, catching various diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis, committing different crimes such as theft as well as participation in drug distribution.”