Systemic Violence Against Girls in Iran: Laws, Poverty, and Institutional Failure
The convergence of World Children’s Day (November 20) and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls (November 25) starkly highlights the crisis facing vulnerable Iranian girls, who are subjected to systematic violence rooted in both discriminatory legal structures and widespread institutional failures.
Child abuse is a growing phenomenon and a top social harm in Iran. This systemic violence disproportionately affects girls, as 55 percent of child abuse reports concern girls.
1. Legal Mechanisms: The Doctrine of “Anti-Woman” Laws
The pervasive violence is institutionalized by laws that prioritize the rights of alleged abusers over the safety of the child, stemming from the regime’s core ideology described as “anti-woman”
• Prioritizing the Father’s Right: Iranian laws regarding custody and judicial supervision emphasize the “right of the father” rather than the security of the child. This legal framework provides the structural basis for repeated violence.
• Discrimination in Custody: The regime’s discriminatory custody regulations expose minor girls to extreme risk. The anti-woman laws are described as enabling horrific crimes, such as the murder of Ava Yargholi, who was killed by her addicted father after those laws granted him custody, despite her mother being financially and ethically suitable. Similarly, in the case of Niyan, the law allowed her father—who had a history of threatening and beating his wife—to retain custody, which allegedly paved the way for the fatal abuse of the six-year-old girl by her stepmother’s brother.
• Centrality of Discrimination: The anti-woman laws are central to the regime’s beliefs and regulations, exposing minor girls to both direct violence and legal discrimination.
2. Structural Mechanisms: Economic Deprivation and Institutional Collapse
Violence against girls is exacerbated by the collapse of social support systems and the widespread structural poverty resulting from institutionalized corruption.
Heightened Vulnerability in Poverty and Child Labor
Children in Iran are confronted with economic poverty, forced labor, and widespread physical and psychological harm. This poverty pushes children into labor, which is a primary cause of school dropout.
• Poverty Crisis: 38% of Iranian children live below the poverty line. While one-quarter of child laborers are girls, they face significantly higher rates of abuse in the workplace compared to boys.
• Severe Abuse Statistics: According to research, girls suffer significantly more than boys in several key areas of abuse:
◦ Sexual Abuse: 12.7% of girls vs. 2.75% of boys.
◦ Beatings and Insults: 26.8% of girls vs. 11.8% of boys.
• Self-Protection Measures: Due to this unsafe environment, many girls in the workforce resort to cutting their hair short to resemble boys in an attempt to feel safer.
Failure of the Social Safety Net
The system designed to protect children from violence has been disabled by a structural lack of resources and political will.
• Structural Indifference: The government’s “structural indifference” leads to the abandonment of victims and allows violence against children to continue. Institutions like the Welfare Organization (Behzisti) often play only a symbolic role, failing to take action to rescue or protect victims even when reports of child abuse are received.
• Crippled Emergency Services: The Social Emergency line (123)—which should be the frontline defense—faces severe shortages in personnel, funding, and facilities. The Welfare Organization operates with only about 5,000 personnel nationwide, a number insufficient to meet the needs of even one province. This crisis is evident in the fact that over a million contacts related to domestic violence were recorded in a single year, suggesting an unprecedented increase in violence and family helplessness.
• Abuse in Protective Centers: Institutions intended for support and protection can become sources of repeated, hidden abuse and humiliation due to a lack of independent supervision and legal protection. The case of “Dorsa,” a seven-year-old girl with disabilities who was beaten by the director and staff of a supposedly protective institution, resulting in a fractured pelvic bone, illustrates how shelters can be transformed into places of injury.
3. Conclusion
Little girls in Iran are simultaneously victims of direct familial violence, severe exploitation in the context of poverty, and legal discrimination under laws where the “anti-woman” doctrine is central. These cases demonstrate that the systemic violence against girls is reproduced and intensified by the lack of independent supervision, shortage of resources, and the collapse of the social support system. The path to welfare and safety for Iranian children is not through patching up broken structures, but through the complete overthrow of the “anti-human and child-killing regime”.
