Close to 2.4 million young people are jobless.

Presidential advisor and head of the National Youth Organization said 75 percent of NYO funds are expended on programs to support and empower youth in socioeconomic and cultural arenas.
Rahim Ebadi told IRNA that the rest of NYO credits are spent on studies, research and supervision. ÒThis year (started March 20), about 25 percent of our funds were used for boosting job generation schemes.Ó
He put the organizationÕs budget for the current year at 130 billion rials, adding, ÒWe have asked for 500 billion rials worth of credits for next year (starting March 21) which is being studied.Ó
Ebadi reiterated that IranÕs population is very young. ÒSome 50 percent of Iranians are under 22 years. Therefore, there is a high demand for jobs. The unemployment figure for this social group is 27 percent which is twice as much as the figure for the whole population.Ó
The official put the unemployment rate for young girls at 40 percent and said, ÒClose to 2.4 million young people are out of jobs.Ó
He recalled the government efforts to curb youth unemployment over the past seven years. ÒEach year about 750,000 job opportunities have been generated. However, unemployment figures are still high due to soaring demand,Ó Ebadi pointed out.
ÒDecisions have been taken to generate more jobs for the young generation in the fourth development plan (2005-2010), with the youth unemployment figure estimated to drop to 15 percent by the end of the program.Ó
He insisted that private sector capacities must be used for job generation. ÒNYO is planning to prepare the young people for entering the job market through skills training and vocational programs.Ó
The official pointed to the youthÕs poor job skills and said, ÒInternational Computer Driving License courses have been offered to 215,000 people to improve their skills.Ó
Turning to plans to promote young peopleÕs religious and national identity, Ebadi said, ÒThe cultural heritage document relating to youth and revolving around tourism, cultural and scientific luminaries is being devised and will be submitted to High Youth Council in the near future.Ó
He said the youth NGOs active in tourism and cultural heritage are growing in number. NYO has set aside three billion rials to promotion of tourism programs this year.
ÒThe plan to restore youth affairs has also been devised. Paying attention to youth problems has become an obligation rather than a recommendation in the fourth development plan, with the roles of various executive organizations specified,Ó he explained. ÒThe Islamic Republic is the only regional country which has conducted large-scale studies on youth, the results of which have been compiled in a database also available on the Internet.Ó
He referred to marriage as another concern of the youth and said, ÒAlthough categorized as the fifth problem of young Iranians, marriage has a special status in NYO plans. Programs have been worked out to provide young couple with pre-marriage and post-nuptial training and support.Ó
According to Ebadi, the organization intends to improve the marriage rate to 11 percent by 2010 from the present 5.5 percent. ÒEfforts will also be made to bring down divorce rate,Ó he concluded.

More than 50 percent of primary school children suffer from refractive visual errors, chairman of the Iran Scientific Optometry Association said.
Abbas Azimi told IRNA, ÒRefractive problems, namely hyperopia (farsightedness), myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism, are most common in the provinces of Golestan, Khorasan and Azarbaijan.Ó
He blamed lack of basic eye care, vitamin A deficiency, poor nutrition during pregnancy, prolonged straining of the eyes in improper lighting conditions such as in carpet-weaving workshops, not using eyeglasses, familial marriages and genetic factors for ophthalmic disorders.
He said the spread of refractive errors was less than 30 percent in advanced countries, adding, ÒMany such defects can be prevented, provided there is timely diagnosis, care and treatment.Ó
Azimi pointed to the implementation of the 2020 scheme in Iran and said, ÒThis is a global project initiated by the World Health Organization with an aim to prevent avoidable loss of sight by the year 2020.Ó
He proposed that screening children in remote and deprived areas for diagnosis of refractive errors can keep them away from partial or total vision impairment.
Azimi mentioned undernourishment in pregnancy, malnutrition and vitamin A, B and E deficiency as the reasons behind the large number of people with refractive errors in the country.

Some 80 percent of street children work for a living.

Children in today's world have become subjected to various forms of exploitation ranging from forced labor and drug trafficking to mendicancy, sexual abuse and obscenity with consequences such as illiteracy, malnutrition and disease. Latest UN reports suggest that 246 million children around the world are working; 500 million do not have access to sanitary lavatories; 400 million are deprived of water; 270 million live without medical and health services; 90 million are without sufficient food; 140 million do not go to school and 300 million have no access to information.
Based on the same report, more than one million Iranian children live below a poverty line of $1 and $2 a day income, while approximately 14 percent work to contribute to family income and meet schooling costs.
Figures indicate that an annual 20,000 to 30,000 street children are mopped up in metropolises. Nevertheless, the plight of small children who wander on streets soliciting for food and money and who are exploited by gangs has become an old story.
More than 8,200 vagabond kids were collected in Tehran alone during the first half of current year (started March 20). It is estimated that the number of street children handed over to the State Welfare Organization would hit 40,000 by the yearend.
Deputy minister of welfare for policymaking and planning, Vaez Mahdavi, told the Farsi newspaper Hayat-e Nau that the bylaw for rehabilitation of street children had been drafted. "The draft has been prepared using the experience of large cities dealing with the dilemma and with an aim to establish centers for collection of street children, short-term rehabs and long-term shelters," he explained.
"Ever since the formation of the Welfare Ministry, a special council was formulated to survey the phenomenon, identify the root causes and the affected areas and promote preventive measure.
"Upon orders by the welfare minister, the draft is going to be discussed with heads of 13 SWO provincial branches so as to incorporate local considerations into it."
He also noted that the draft will be discussed in a session attended by representatives from Islamic Republic of Iran Police, Ministry of Interior, governor general offices, and Justice Department, and later submitted to the cabinet for approval.
According to Mahdavi, 80 percent of street children are working. "The bylaw has anticipated vocational and life skills training for street kids in line with international protocols banning employment of children under 15. Financial support for families has also been proposed," he stated.
A social researcher, Madani, said, "Articles 82 to 84 of the Labor Law have determined the legal age for working at 15 years and specified certain conditions for child labor including a ban on working overtime, working nightshift and involving in hazardous jobs. As per articles 188 and 196 of the same law, there is no ban against children working in households or small workshops with less than 10 workers. This obviously prepares the conditions for exploitation of children."
Madani insisted that the first issue to consider while trying to restrain child labor is the socioeconomic factors that urge families living below poverty line to exploit their children. "The spread of injustice and poverty would increase the number of indigent families and encourage child labor. On the contrary, reducing indigence and social injustice would help uproot child labor," he mentioned.
The expert underscored the role of the Labor Ministry in enforcing the Labor Law and that of the parliament in enacting laws. "The Majlis can endorse supportive laws that would benefit child laborers not their employers, and would ensure their basic rights. Presently, employers have no obligation whatsoever to provide employees under 14 with insurance and other facilities--not to mention that child workers are all underpaid for work of equal value."
He said the NGOs play a more important role than governmental bodies in spotting working children and supporting their families.
"Implementation of supportive rules and regulations, and providing NGOs with more authority can help improve the conditions. These cannot be achieved unless macro reforms are put into effect. Iran has acceded to the international Convention on the Rights of the Child. Still, its contents are not fully observed in the country due to ineffectiveness of executive bodies."

Young boys throwing snowballs in TehranÕs Mellat Park. (Photo by Hamid-Reza Seddiqi)

The Second International Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Conference is slated for Feb. 14-17 in Tehran.
As reported by the Public Relations Office of the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA), secretary of the conference, Javad Alaqband-Rad said a number of prominent Iranian and foreign psychiatrists will exchange views at the event.
ÒThe occurrence of natural disasters in the country in recent years has indicated the need to reinforce resistance, capability and tolerance of families and their children against the natural maladies,Ó he commented.
He said the psychological impacts of natural disasters in recent years, especially the 2003 Bam earthquake, will be examined in workshops and exhibitions to be held on the sidelines of the confab.
Alaqband-Rad, who chairs the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Association, named National Youth Organization, IIDCYA, and the American Academy of Psychiatry as the main participants of the conference.
The confab will also feature a child painting exhibition, story writing workshops as well as an exhibition of pharmaceutical products.
ÒUnfortunately, not much attention is paid to the question of mental health in our country. The most common psychological disorder among children and young adults is depression. All around the world, about 20 percent of children are in need of mental health services. The issue has not been properly inculcated among Iranian parents, teachers and officials, though.Ó

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has welcomed a decision by the Turkmen parliament to pass legislation banning child labor and guaranteeing freedom from economic exploitation as a right of children, IRIN reported.
"The government is aware of the issue of child labor in Turkmenistan and this new law has been formulated to deal with the issue," UNICEF country head, Mahboob Shareef, told IRIN from the Turkmen capital, Ashkhabad.
His comments follow the adoption of the law by the Turkmen parliament two days earlier. The text of the law, signed by Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, states the legislation is aimed at fulfilling the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the law of Turkmenistan.
Welcoming the announcement, UNICEF stated the move could be seen as evidence of the will of the president to ban child labor.
"We at UNICEF strongly support this move," Shareef said. "This move by the parliament comes after last year's pledge by the president to outlaw child labor and it also follows from our close cooperation and ongoing dialog with the government on the rights of children," Shareef added.
The UN children's agency regards the announcement as a further constructive outcome of joint collaboration between the government of Turkmenistan and the UNICEF, Shareef said. He added that the UN children's agency remained committed to working with the government to help it fulfill its national priorities and international obligations covering children's rights.

Fiji's government was urged to act immediately to prevent long-term damage to the health and education of 8,000 children suffering from the effects of drought in the island nation's west, AFP reported.
A report by the aid group Save the Children Fiji showed poor nutrition and poverty among students had been reported by teachers gravely concerned about the nutrition of the children.
The research was led by Margaret Logavatu, who said a more concerted effort was needed to keep the children at school and to avoid the long-term impact on the health and education of children in the worst affected areas of Ba, Tavua and Rakiraki.
The study found that the harsh and dry conditions, which began in September 2004, had seriously affected farmers in the cane and agriculture belt.
As a result, the farmers were experiencing difficulties in sending their children to school because there was no money for bus fares, lunch, school fees and books.
It also found children were irritable and had low concentration because of poor nutrition and irregular water supply.
Primary school children in most schools were being encouraged to share lunches with those whose families could not afford it and teachers reported that secondary school students would make excuses for not bringing lunch to school to avoid embarrassment.
The report also found that due to the lack of employment in the drought-affected areas, many families or fathers were being forced to leave home in search of work, in some cases leaving their children in the care of a relative.
As a result, many children were being separated from their parents which was likely to add to social problems.
According to Save the Children, head teachers felt the worst was yet to come and that affected students needed immediate help in the form of school fees and books, bus fares and a feeding program.
The report recommended that the government make available adequate food stocks and take steps to ensure improved cooperation among healthcare, water, education and other authorities.