Introduction
July 30 is recognized internationally as the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. It serves to warn against one of the most heinous forms of modern slavery and calls for immediate international action.
Human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of individuals through threats, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or the exchange of payments or benefits for the purpose of exploitation. The core element that distinguishes it from other criminal acts, such as migrant smuggling, is the intent to exploit the person. This crime is strictly prohibited under international law.
Under the rule of the mullahs’ regime in Iran, the country ranks among the worst global perpetrators of organized human trafficking. Iran serves as a source, transit, and destination country. It lies on one of the principal routes for trafficking young women from Asia to Europe and the Gulf states. Iranian nationals are also trafficked to the Caucasus, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and neighboring Gulf countries.
According to the 2024 U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, Iran remains in the lowest tier (Tier 3), a classification assigned to governments that do not meet the minimum standards to combat human trafficking and make no significant efforts to do so. The report explicitly states that some Iranian security and military agencies are directly complicit in trafficking, or deliberately turn a blind eye to such crimes.
State Involvement in Trafficking, Confirmed by Regime Insiders
In Iran, the trafficking of women and children is not only unpunished, but actively sustained through the support of regime institutions such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Basij militia, the police, and even segments of the ruling clergy.
One of the most striking public admissions came from a senior regime ideologue and national security figure who declared in a speech,
“The Islamic system has reached a point where Shiite girls are being auctioned in the UAE, and none of the officials, not the president, the intelligence ministry, the Expediency Council, the IRGC, the judiciary, or the police, are held accountable.”
This extraordinary confession, coming from a regime loyalist rather than a critic, confirms the structural and official nature of the trafficking networks within the Islamic Republic.
No official record exists of military, security, or government agents being tried or convicted for trafficking crimes. Instead, female victims of sex trafficking are routinely prosecuted for adultery, prostitution, or illegal exit from the country. Women and girls returning from such situations are treated as criminals rather than survivors.
Key Trafficking Routes for Women and Children
According to Iranian sources, the primary trafficking hubs are in the provinces of Hormozgan, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Khuzestan.
One legal expert stated,
Hossein Kameli, attorney at law : “Corruption in administrative bodies and cooperation between traffickers and police forces have facilitated the trafficking of women through these regions.”
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In Bandar Abbas, women are trafficked to the UAE under the cover of temporary marriage (sigheh). In Sistan and Baluchestan, victims are transferred east through Pakistan and then on to the Persian Gulf. In Khuzestan, routes to Iraq and Kuwait are active.
Another report noted,
“Iranian brokers earn up to 700,000 dirhams per group of trafficked girls, with nightly exploitation fees reaching up to 2,000 dirhams for some.”
— Didar News
Methods of Trafficking and Patterns of Deception
Human trafficking in Iran is carried out using deceptive methods that often invoke religious, social, or economic legitimacy. These practices reveal the institutional depth of trafficking within the regime’s structures.
- Temporary Marriage (Sigheh) as a Religious Cover
The legalized practice of temporary marriage (sigheh) in Iran has become a mechanism to shield sexual exploitation. Many girls enter into contracts with Arab men under the guise of religiously sanctioned relationships and are then transferred for sexual use abroad.
The 2024 TIP Report notes,
“By tacitly endorsing sigheh, the Iranian government facilitates the sexual exploitation of women and children, and refuses to prosecute perpetrators.”
- Economic Deception and Fake Employment Offers
Victims are often poor, from vulnerable families, or include runaway girls and single mothers. They are promised domestic or office work in Iran or abroad, but upon recruitment, their identification documents are seized and they are coerced into prostitution. - False Marriage Proposals
Traffickers pose as wealthy men from other provinces and propose marriage to rural girls. Once the marriage or sigheh is formalized, the girl is swiftly taken abroad. Some minors are hidden in secret locations until they reach the so-called ‘marketable age’. - Recruitment of Child Soldiers by the IRGC and Basij
The IRGC and the Basij actively recruit boys under the age of 15 for deployment in conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and for repression of domestic protests. - Organ Trafficking and Black Market Sales
Criminal organ trafficking rings operate under the cover of charities in cities such as Tehran, Shiraz, and Tabriz. Foreign nationals are exploited for their organs, which are sold through black market networks.
Legal Analysis: Persistent Violations of International Law
Human trafficking is a clear violation of international law, particularly the Palermo Protocol, which defines and criminalizes this practice. Iran has neither ratified this protocol nor implemented corresponding legal standards domestically. Where laws exist, they are selectively applied or abused.
From 2020 to 2024, Iran has been placed in Tier 3 in the U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Reports. The 2024 report states,
“Iranian government agencies, including security forces and the IRGC, are directly complicit or deliberately negligent in the trafficking of women, girls, and children. Victims are punished while state agents enjoy total impunity.”
The 2023 TIP Report similarly noted,
“Iran fails to identify and support victims, instead prosecuting sex trafficking survivors for adultery, illegal travel, or moral corruption.”
Human and Social Impact: Broken Lives, Silenced Voices
The trafficking of women and children in Iran is more than an organized crime—it is the erosion of human dignity, family cohesion, and social stability.
Victims include runaway girls, orphaned children, female heads of household, and impoverished youth. Lured by promises of work, marriage, or migration, they are stripped of identity and agency, and sold into bondage.
Reports confirm that some trafficked Iranian girls are under 14 years of age. They are held in secrecy until considered ready for sale on the sex market.
In some cases, poor families send daughters abroad hoping for income, only to later discover the truth. Many remain silent out of shame or fear for their child’s life. One mother said,
“My daughter has been missing for two weeks. Her friends said she went abroad to send us money”. I only pray she is alive.”— University of Tehran Legal Clinic
In regions where trafficking is prevalent, girls are treated as tradeable assets. The regime’s laws on child marriage, sigheh, and gender inequality reinforce and reproduce the trafficking system. Under the mullahs’ regime, trafficking is not an isolated tragedy, but a state-embedded system of sexual exploitation.
Conclusion and International Call to Action
We urge the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to:
- Launch an immediate, independent international investigation into the role of the IRGC and other regime institutions in human trafficking in Iran,
- Add the names of involved Iranian officials to international human rights sanctions lists,
- Provide direct international protection to Iranian victims of trafficking, especially women and children,
- Establish mechanisms for documentation and exposure of sex trafficking networks in Iran.
The mullahs’ regime is not merely in breach of international obligations—it is a key perpetrator of trafficking in the region.
Silence in the face of this crime is complicity.
