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Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child

The Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child was established in Iran in 1994 for the purpose of clarifying, publicizing, and promoting the principles contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Society engages in activities in an independent, non political, and nonprofit capacity, and as a symbol of Iranian society, basing gained practical and theoretical knowledge in its fifteen years of experience.

Although the welfare of children is the ultimate aim of the Society’s activities, the task of convincing the legislative and policy-making bodies, as well as the executive and social institutions of Iranian society, and above all, the public opinion in Iran of the importance of building of a better society for Iranian children, is also a top priority for the Society.

Society’s Structure

According to the Articles of Association, the General Assembly, Board of Directors, and Inspectors are the society’s principle organs. The seven-member Board of Directors, which is elected every two years by the General Assembly, is responsible for the management and daily administration of the society.

Field of Activity

The activities of the Society, since its inception, are focused on three main areas: legislative, social, and operational activities.

Legislative-Oriented Activities:

These activities include studies of the country’s existing laws and regulations concerning children. The society’s efforts are aimed at reviewing the existing laws affecting children, and the submission of proposals to improve or change the laws for the further protection of children.

Social and Cultural Activities

In this area, the Society’s main concerns are with families and the social institutions that deal with children. The Society’s objectives are to provide them with information on the rights of children and to enhance their awareness and knowledge of such rights. Efforts to reduce and prevent mistreatment, abuse, neglect and exploitation of children, discrimination against them, and any other behaviors harmful to the mental, psychological, and physical health of children, fall within the Society’s work in this sphere.

Operational Activities

Here, the Society’s work endeavors to see that all the laws protecting children, which are stipulated in the Constitution, civil laws, and other codes, statutes, and regulations are duly implemented, and that obstacles to their execution are removed. Laws prohibiting child labor and those aimed at the protection of children rights, with our emphasis on the values and rights incorporated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its subsequent amendments and initiatives as introduced within the framework of international conventions and clear examples, provide the context for these activities.

Programs

The Society’s on-going work falls into two categories: supportive and operational.

The first contains legislation-oriented, social and cultural activities that help erase the actual and perceived barriers that impede the observation of children’s rights. The role of the Society through such programs is to supply information, provide motivation, and keep a watchful eye. The Society endeavors, on the one hand, to make the families, society, communities, and the government more sensitive to the protection of children’s rights. On the other hand, the Society works towards having the legal prerequisites in place to ensure that the observation of children’s rights and respect for them is being carried out.

The Society performs its function is this regard through its various activities, including holding training courses, workshops, and monthly sessions. It further seeks cooperation from the mass media, especially the press, and offers social work services and research and consulting on legal, educational, and other issues. The supporting programs are carried out by the following units: Research and Planning, Education, Legal, Consulting, Social Work, Yara Voice, Cultural, Volunteers, and Financial.

Operational Programs:

These programs have been organized by the Society’s Executive organs and consist of projects implemented in the following fields:

-         Making attempts to mitigate the effect of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, on children. The part that the society played at the time of earthquakes in Ghaen and Birjand in May 1997 and in Bam in December 2003, may be mentioned as one of its achievement in this context. The work that started in those regions has continued to this day within the projects in southern Khorassan province, such as the formation of the House of the Child in the earthquake-ridden city of Bam.

-         Educating and protecting children suffering under harsh living conditions, particularly such vulnerable children as drug-abused, street, and working children, and those inflicted with AIDS. The Nasser Khosrow and Shoosh House of the Child were established in 1999 and 2001, respectively, to protect and care for such children. The Darvazehhaar Employment-Creation project was launched for the same purpose.

-         Protection of children’s physical, mental, and psychological health through providing psychological counseling, legal aid, and social work services for abused and abuse-prone children channeled through the unit on social work, counseling, and Yara Voice, since 2000 as the first telephone help-line for children, young adults, and families in Iran.

The society firmly believes that the realization of the noble objectives which it pursues and creating a healthy environment, in which our children can fully grow and develop, requires collective care, participation, and assistance. So, while performing our civil duty to draw the people's attention to the rights and problems of children, we ask for the help and contribution from the public at-large in the path to achieving our goal.