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Letters to the Editor Indian Pediatrics 2004; 41:1283-1284 |
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Street Children and Runaway Adolescents in Iran |
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With reference to the Editorial by Sethi(1) in the March issue of the journal regarding "Street Children", We would like to mention some points on the same issue in Iran. Risky behaviors of the out-of-school children have been ignored in Iran, and it was only recently that the school students received due attention by the Ministry of Education(2). The growing number of runaway adolescents (especially girls who are more vulnerable to sexual abuse than boys) has urged the authorities to look for a systematic approach to a possible solution. However, dealing with the out-of-school children seems to be much more demanding than those in schools. Lack of reliable statistics on the real number of these children makes the issue even more complicated. Runaway girls are the most at risk. An unofficial report shows that 60% of the runaway girls have been a victim of sexual abuse in the first week out of home(3). The strategic geographic situation of Iran and its long borders with the countries of the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan and Pakistan), where a substantial proportion of the world’s heroin is produced, have confronted Iran with the problems of drug trafficking and concomitant drug addiction within the country(4). The youth are not an exception and make up a considerable population of substance users! The rate of substance use is some 80% among the street children in Tehran(3). The growing number of runaway and street children is alarming! Poverty, dysfunctional and disintegrated families of the runaway children, failure of the families and the government to establish financial and emotional support for the youth, loose ties of the new generation with the national, social and religious values, unreasonable social restrictions, high rate of demand and supply for drugs, inappropriate legislation and lack of a definite law in support of children’s rights(5), all are responsible for the bitter fact in the society. Reza Navipour, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: [email protected]
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