A Glimpse into Iran

Iran’s Reputation Iran is a Middle Eastern country governed by Islamic ideology and is a theocratic government. There are reports that, ‘Iran is one of the worst human trafficking violators in the world’ (Maher, 2013) and ‘is considered an origin, transit, and destination country for human trafficking’ (“Field listing:,” 2013, para. 52). “Iran is a “tier 3″ country in regards to trafficking, a status given to countries “whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so” (Panah, 2013). “The government did not share information on its anti-trafficking efforts with the international community during the reporting period; this impedes the collection of information on the country’s human trafficking problem and the government’s efforts to curb it” (“US report:,” 2013, para. 4).
Victims of Trafficking ‘Men, women, and children are all victims of the human trafficking trade’ (“Field listing:,” 2013, para. 52). There are many reasons one may fall prey to human traffickers, but the global influences seem to be “poverty, unemployment, discrimination, a lack of social and economic opportunities, and global financial crises…” (“Iran calls on,” 2013, para. 3). According to Panah (2013) ‘children in Iran are the most exploited source of forced labor in the world.’ Because children are the most vulnerable human beings, they are easy prey for pedophiles as well. Many children who are trafficked will be used for sexual purposes at some point. ‘Prostitution of children is also on the rise’ (“Iran's trafficking of,” 2002, para. 2). “Every day, an average of 45 Iranian girls run away from home to escape poverty, abuse, and social imprisonment” (“Iran's trafficking of,” 2002, para. 2). ‘Most of these girls end up prey for human traffickers end up living as prostitutes’ (“A human rights,”