Iran's Trafficking of Persons, Especially Women and Children
A Human Rights Report, 2002
—— SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM
Statistics and Cases
Increasing evidence suggests that Iran is experiencing a rise in the prostitution and trafficking of women and children, especially in the northern parts of Tehran and in other major cities. Though banned in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution, prostitution nonetheless is now on the rise in response to the country's economic crisis and heightened unemployment. Among the evidence for this climb is the January 2001 closure by authorities in Tehran of 29 brothels and the arrest of 85 madams and pimps.[1] In May of the same year, Iranian police dismantled a brothel northeast of the city, arresting 25 people, including a 15-year-old girl,[2] and in July, authorities in the town of Mashhad rounded up 500 persons to shield them from the ongoing serial murders of persons in prostitution. Those murders had claimed 19 victims thus far. Rumor has it that extremist groups who want to stop the spread of prostitution and corruption commit such crimes.[3] Documented evidence corroborates the strangulation of 26 persons in prostitution over the last 3 years in the northeastern province of Khorasan alone.[4]
The prostitution of children also has surfaced as a matter of concern. In January 2000, Iranian authorities closed down six brothels in Tehran and arrested 35 people, including some minors.[5] Every day, an average of 45 Iranian girls run away from home to escape poverty, abuse, and social imprisonment.[6] Though some are picked up by the police and brought to welfare organizations, many falls into the hands of organized prostitution rings[7] or drift into crime and the sex trade; some simply disappear.[8] Police in Tehran reportedly round up 90 runaway children every day,[9] and as of September 2001, 900 girls and 700 boys were reported to have fled their homes in Tehran.[10] Often times, the young runaways are raped or even killed by criminal groups in Tehran. According to some recent reports, one young woman in Tehran is raped and murdered every 6 days, as criminals increasingly take advantage of runaways.[11]
For many years, Iran has been punishing women accused of prostitution. For example, police sources recently indicated that passports are no longer to be issued to Iranian women expelled from Persian Gulf sheikdoms for prostitution.[12] Under Islamic law –that is, the Shari'a– Iran's punishment for prostitution has been severe. On 3 July 1980, two women accused of prostitution were buried up to their necks and then stoned to death. In a similar case in 1997, three women were stoned to death in public after a court found them guilty of adultery and prostitution under Iran's Islamic law.[13]
Iran also has prosecuted organizers of prostitution rings. In 1996, a woman and her husband were charged with organizing corrupt gatherings involving prostitution. They were executed a year later. In a 1995 case, police dismantled 30 prostitution rings in western Iran and arrested dozens of people, including a doctor and several teachers and government employees.[14] Allegedly, the ring seduced young women and girls, photographed them nude, and then trafficked them out of the country to be sold to Arab sheiks.[15] Several young women committed suicide because, it is believed, of the way they were treated by the network members.[16] Similarly, Iranian authorities broke up a network that smuggled runaway girls into Persian Gulf states. The ringleader in that case confessed to selling her own daughter into slavery. Police discovered the ring after they came across a "house of corruption" in Tehran where young women were being sexually abused.[17] This group 13-year-old girls into the sex trade with promises of money and then transported them to customers in the Persian Gulf states. Ninety percent of the girls' parents were addicted to illegal drugs or divorced.[18]
—— LAW AND LAW EENFORCEMENT
Criminalization and Penalties
Prostitution is illegal in Iran.
The Penal Code prohibits procurement for the purpose of fornication.[19] Punishment of a convicted man is 75 lashes and exile from the location where the offense was committed for a period of 3 months to a year. Punishment of a convicted woman is 75 lashes but no exile.[20]
The code penalizes any person who promotes or facilitates immorality or prostitution.[21] Establishing or managing a place of immorality or prostitution is a criminal act,[22] subject to imprisonment from 1 to 10 years. The relevant premises may be closed by a court order.
The code further prohibits living on income derived from prostitution and encouraging or protecting persons in the performance of prostitution.[23] Facilitating the travel abroad by a woman for purposes of prostitution likewise is prohibited.[24] The consent of such a woman is immaterial; punishment is imprisonment from 1 to 3 years. If the woman is under the age of 18, the penalty for facilitating her transport is enhanced.
Labor Law
The constitution affirms "respect for the right to choose freely an occupation, refraining from compelling anyone to engage in a particular job, and preventing the exploitation of another's labor."[25]
Evidence: Double Witness Rule
Under the Penal Code, procurement is proved through two confessions, provided that the confessor is an adult, is sane, and has free will.[26] Procurement also may be proved by the testimony of two righteous men.[27]
International Conventions
Iran has ratified the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention (105) on the Abolition of Forced Labor and the United Nations (UN) Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery.
However, Iran has not ratified the ILO Convention (182) to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor; the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography; and signed the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; or the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
Footnotes:
"Flesh Is Weaker in Moralistic Iran," Hindu, 28 January 2001.
"Iran Police Dismantle Brothel, Arrest 25 People," Agence France Presse, 15 May 2001.
"500 Prostitutes Roundup to Stop Serial Murder," 26 July 2001, accessed through: "http://www.irna.com/newshtm/eng/02235523.htm".
"Prostitution Returns to Iran," Agence France Presse, 17 April 2001.
"Iranian Police Close Six Brothels in Tehran, Arrest 35," Agence France Presse, 6 January 2000.
Chris De Bellaigue, "City Life: "Tehran –The Teenage Runaways of Gangland Tehran," Independent, 13 November 2000.
"Iranian Women Standing Up against Physical, Mental Abuse at Home, 3 July 2001.
Chris De Bellaigue, "City Life: "Tehran –The Teenage Runaways of Gangland Tehran," Independent, 13 November 2000.
Elaine Sciolino, "Runaway Youths a Thorn in Iran's Chaste Side," New York Times, 4 November 2000.
"Two Operators of Prostitution Ring Sentenced to Death," IRNA, 15 September 2001.
"Iran Slavery Ring Led by Woman Who Sold Her Own Daughter," Agence France Presse, 27 October 2000.
"Flesh Is Weaker in Moralistic Iran," Hindu, 28 January 2001.
"Iran Stones Six to Death," Associated Press, 26 October 1997.
"Police Dismantle 30 Prostitution Rings in Western Iran," Agence France Presse, 31 December 1995.
Ibid.
Ibid.
"Iran Slavery Ring Led by Woman Who Sold Her Own Daughter," Agence France Presse, 27 October 2000.
"Group Smuggling Girls to Persian Gulf States Busted," Iran Times, 7 February 2001.
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