Children with no identity
photo by Abdollah Heidari (Islamic Republic News Agency)
Tehran: a teenager, who doesn’t have any birth certificate, is playing at home and hanging from an iron bars. 400 thousand children without birth certificate and identity are the result of unauthorized marriage of Afghan men with Iranian women. With the beginning of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the immigration of Afghan people have begun due to war and poverty, and 3 million of them immigrated to Iran during the past 30 years.
Tehran: Inside the house of an Afghan husband and Iranian wife. One of the main effects of immigrations is the marriage of Afghan men with Iranian women to get the permission for legal residence, and consolidate their situations, but most of the Afghan men don’t accept the family responsibilities and flee for various reasons.
Tehran: An Iranian woman is going to the store to buy groceries. Her Afghan husband left her and their 4 children after a while and she is unaware of him. Most of these women, due to the economic and cultural poverty of their family, marry at a very young age with Afghan men for the money as dowry (mahryeh).
Tehran: Mozhgan, 30, was addicted after marriage to an Afghan man, and her 2 children were taken to Afghanistan by the husband forever, and she is alone. According to the Iran civil laws, the wife’s nationality must become the same as her husband’s, after marriage. Children of these women, who married to foreign nationals, would be foreigners too.
Tehran: An old Iranian man at his home is with his teenage grandchildren, who don’t have any birth certificates. They have no civil rights, health services, and respect or safety. They are the result of the marriage of his daughter with an Afghan man.
Tehran: Abdolhamid, nearly 18, illiterate, and without identity, is the child of an Afghan father. He is living in a 12 meters room with his addicted mother and his younger brother. He is waiting to get the legal birth certificate to be recognized as a citizen.
Tehran: The children, who don’t have an identity card, are playing in an orphanage. The children who were born by unauthorized marriage of Afghan men to Iranian women, don’t have any identity cards or any civil rights in the refugee country, unless they stay in that country till the age of 18, so they can get a birth certificate
Tehran: Shirkhoda, 15, addicted, without birth certificate, is embraced by a social worker. Most of these children and teenagers are not allowed to enter to training centers and schools, and they addict or create violence due to educational inequalities and frustrated feelings. Only a few of them are taken to non-governmental centers or NGOs.
Tehran: Some of the children, who don’t have any ID cards, have come to an NGO to learn and study. Because they don’t have the permission to enter the training centers.
Tehran: an 8 year-old boy, without any ID cards, in a class is aiming his teacher with his hand like a gun. Due to the lack of permission to enter the training centers or schools, they are taken to an NGO with limited supports to learn and study.
Tehran: A 9 year-old girl, without identity card, is in an individual classroom due to her low intelligence. Because of the lack of permission to enter the training centers or schools, she has taken to an NGO, with limited supports to learn and study.
Tehran: Some teenagers, who don’t have any birth certificates, are playing in their neighborhood. Because of the lack of permission to enter the training centers or schools, they waste their time on playing and doing useless things. Most of them addict or create violence due to educational inequalities and frustrated feelings