So far, twenty organizations, collectives, and groups have signed this letter in support of the campaign to expel the Islamic Republic from the International Labour Organization (ILO). Signatures continue to grow.
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In Support of the Call for the Expulsion of the Islamic Republic from the International Labour Organization
Child Rights Activists in Iran (CRAII) fully supports the statement issued by the Campaign to Free Imprisoned Workers, Free Them Now, calling for the expulsion of the Islamic Republic from the International Labour Organization and for its representatives to be prevented from attending the 114th Session of the International Labour Conference.
Our support for this statement is grounded, first and foremost, in our commitment to defending children’s rights, protecting the right to childhood, and abolishing child labour. The International Labour Organization’s core conventions, including Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, must be measured in Iran against the lives of millions of children whose childhood has already been taken from them. These include children exploited in military and paramilitary roles; children subjected to sexual exploitation and trafficking; child kulbars and child fuel carriers, or Sukhtbar; undocumented children working in brick kilns and on the streets; children without birth certificates who are denied education and protection; child waste-pickers; and children working in mines, ports, farms, carpet-weaving workshops, factories, and other hazardous environments. Many children are forced into domestic and care work, or perform labour that is not even recognised as “work”, yet still deprives them of education, health, and a safe childhood.
The same state that drives children into labour, poverty and exploitation has also arrested, imprisoned and killed children during the January massacre, and continues to execute, kill and repress those who resist its rule. The violation of children’s rights in Iran is therefore not limited to labour exploitation; it is part of a wider structure of state violence, economic dispossession and political repression.
A government that systematically exploits children on such a vast scale cannot legitimately participate in an organisation dedicated to protecting children from labour exploitation. The continued membership of this government undermines the mission and credibility of the International Labour Organization.
Any pressure, discrimination or repression against the labour force directly harms children and their right to a safe childhood. When workers lose their livelihoods, security or the right to organise, children are the first to suffer. For this reason, the statement by the Campaign to Free Imprisoned Workers, Free Them Now, defends workers’ rights and, by extension, the rights of children. Child Rights Activists in Iran stands with it on this basis.
We urge member states and representatives of workers and employers within the International Labour Organization to support the expulsion of the Islamic Republic. We also call for its isolation and boycott by the international community for as long as this government remains in power.
Child Rights Activists in Iran (CRAII)
May 2026