Page 24 - IRANRptJun22

Iran’s workers ‘face mounting challenges to realising labour rights’
twice the general joblessness rate, according to latest available data, while university graduate unemployment is thought to be around 40%. Despite the many times the government has stressed the need to boost employment, overall youth unemployment has risen more than 5% in the past three years.
ranian workers are facing mounting economic and political challenges to realising their labour rights, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights Activists (HRA), an Iranian human rights documentation group, said ahead of International Workers’ Day on May 1.
Over the past four years, amid a deterioration of Iran’s economic conditions, labour protests have increased in the country, HRA found in its new Labor Rights Report. Iranian authorities have attempted to repress and silence activists in labour organisations and trade unions who have led protests called over low wages and falling living standards, it said. Work-related safety incidents and cases of unpaid wages demonstrated perilous working conditions and a further erosion of labour protections in recent years, HRA also said.
“Iranian labour activists have been at the forefront of the struggle for the rights to free association and assembly in Iran, and they have paid a heavy price from government repression,” said Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Iranian authorities should recognise the rights of labour unions and engage in meaningful efforts to address the country’s mounting economic problems.”
Amid labour protests and actions, over the past 12 months, at least 69 workers in Iran have been arrested, and dozens more have been summoned for interrogations, according to HRA. Since March, it said, the authorities have also increased harassment and summonses for interrogation of the active members of the Iranian Teachers Trade Association (ITTA). It has been spearheading nationwide protests for fair wages for three years.
HRA also documented that between May 2021 and May 2022, at least 10,707 workers were injured in work-related incidents. The statistics indicated that during this period at least 811 workers died in work-related incidents, with officials announcing the deaths of 438 people and local groups announcing an additional 373. The number showed a significant decrease from 1,790 people who died due to work-related incidents in the previous year, but the official statistics indicate that at least 1,200 people have died of work-related injuries annually over the past 12 years.
24 IRAN Country Report June 2022 www.intellinews.com