Iran's protester children do not belong in a correctional and rehabilitation centre/Amir Kabir/The Lancet/Gianni Murzi

I have been following the situation of children in Iran regularly but as recent events unfolded after the death of Mahsa Amini, I did increase my scouting for news about Iran.  I am uniquely attached to Iran and to Iranian people because I worked there as Representative ad interim for 16 months. During that time, I got to appreciate the difficulties and subtleties of relating to Government officials.  Working in Iran was not easy and is not going to be easier, as this article from The Lancet exposes new challenges for UNICEF. You can get to the original text by clicking here. 

The arrest of Mahsa Amini by the Moral Security Police in Iran on Sept 13, 2022, for wearing her hijab improperly, and her death from traumatic brain injury on Sept 16, 2022, induced a widespread wave of angry protests by Iranians and international reactions. The Iranian protesters believe that Mahsa's brain injury was caused by beating and a blow to the head, but the Iranian Government considers her brain injury the result of underlying disease.

As always, the Iranian Government believes the protests are interference and incitement by foreign governments, and in an attempt to control the protests, the authorities have tried to limit communication by disrupting the internet and filtering social networks such as Instagram and WhatsApp. The participation of so many different groups of society distinguishes these protests from previous protests. For the first time, Iranian school children have joined public protests. The military and security forces, through brutal attack of protesting crowds in the streets, universities, and schools, have killed at least 379 people, including 47 children. The exact number of people in detention is unknown—estimates suggest more than 20 000. Reported numbers of people detained or injured are unreliable, in part because many of those with injuries have avoided going to medical centres for fear of being arrested.

In an interview with a local newspaper, Minister of Education Yousef Nouri revealed that arrested children, all school students, will be sent to the Correctional and Rehabilitation Center for treatment that will prevent them from developing antisocial personality disorder. Founded in 1968 and managed by judiciary power, the Correctional and Rehabilitation Center is a psychiatric centre for children who have been charged with delinquent acts. Child protestors arrested during the ongoing protests will be admitted to this centre without any scientific basis for assuming that participation in civil protests is prognostic of, or a sign of, antisocial personality disorder or predisposes a child to psychiatric disorders. Conversely, according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iran accepted in 1993, children have the rights to freedom of expression (article 13) and freedom of peaceful assembly (article 15). As per article 37, referring a child to the Correctional and Rehabilitation Center is a violation of the child's rights.

It seems that the purpose of the Iranian Government is to brainwash the children, in direct conflict with the natural growth process and can have psychiatric consequences for the rest of the child's life. None of Iran's own scientific or medical organisations, including the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, the Psychology and Counseling Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Medical Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, are independent enough of the government to speak out against this treatment of children.

I call on international children's health and rights organisations—WHO, UNICEF, the American Psychiatric Association, the World Psychiatric Association, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and partners—to react to this inhuman behaviour and appeal to the Iranian Government.
I declare no competing interests.

References1.Iran Human Rights
Iran protests: at least 378 people including 47 children killed/IHRNGO warns of escalating state disinformation campaign.
https://www.iranhr.net/en/articles/5594/
Date: Nov 19, 2022
Date accessed: November 22, 2022
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2.Iran Human Rights
Iran Human Rights condemns children arrests: Islamic Republic officials are ones in need of “correction”.
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/5518/
Date: Oct 13, 2022
Date accessed: November 22, 2022
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3.UN
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
https://downloads.unicef.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/unicef-convention-rights-child-uncrc.pdf
Date: Nov 20, 1989
Date accessed: October 10, 2022