For over a decade, the imposition of mass unemployment and poverty has forced many people in western Iran to become kulbaran (back bearers). The only option left for over 75,000 unemployed workers and child labourers – aged 13 to 70 years old – is to carry goods on their backs across the border between Iraq, Iran and Turkey in the life-threatening conditions of the Zagros mountains.
The workers transport up to 200 kg (sounds unbelievable but it’s true) of goods on their backs and transport it up to 15 km across the mountains.
On average, every year 100 people lose their lives in the “pursuit of bread”. Some walk on landmines, some fall off the mountain when chased by border patrol, some freeze to death, some die of a heart attack as their bodies can’t handle the pressure, but most of them are shot to death by the border patrol (Sepah forces). No week goes by without yet another destitute family receiving the news that their loved one has died. The family usually does not have anyone else to take care of them.
The Islamic Republic of Iran considers the work of the kulbaran illegal and shoots the unemployed workers, retirees and children who have no other option: no job prospects, no social or unemployment benefits.
It isn’t illegal, in the upside down world of capitalism in Iran, to push people into poverty and unemployment and shoot them to death, but fighting absolute poverty and trying to make a living, apparently is. The Islamic Republic of Iran treats the workers, the retirees and child labourers like criminals instead of creating jobs or providing unemployment benefits.
The fact that people are pushed into poverty and are forced to work as kulbaran is in itself a crime against the people, but murdering the workers and the children is an unforgivable crime that the world must not tolerate.
There have been many protests and strikes in objection to the treatment of the kulbaran in the border towns and cities in Iran such as Sardasht, Baneh and Sanandaj. Many workers organisations and activists have also condemned the inhuman treatment of the kulbaran.
The Worker-communist Party of Iran strongly condemns the Islamic Republic of Iran for the imposition of circumstances in which people are forced to carry out such work and the inhuman treatment of the kulbaran and their families. A regime that systematically imposes unemployment and poverty onto people and murders workers who try to feed their families has no place in any international organisation.
The people of Iran have been protesting against the poverty, their lack of rights and the regime’s brutality. People in Iran are fighting to overthrow the regime; in almost every protest people chant slogans against the regime and its heads.
We call on all workers’ and humanitarian organisations to demand the expulsion of the representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran from their countries and to call for political sanctions against the regime. The Iranian regime is an example of the worst of inhumanity and it has no place in the international community. It must be isolated through international pressure by those who care for life and humanity.
Worker-communist Party of Iran
1 January 2019
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