Kurdish Women Should Not Marry Foreigners

The director general of the office of foreign citizens and immigrants at the governor’s office in the Iranian province of Kurdistan has called on the women in the province to refrain from marrying foreign men because of what of what it deems to be “negative consequences.” This call came on the same day that Tehran announced a ban on hiring foreigners, except in “special circumstances.” The ministry of cooperatives, labor and social welfare has been mandated to report government and non-government violators to the appropriate authorities.

Rules restricting the lives of foreigners residing in Iran have been expanding in recent years. In a public announcement, the director general of the office of foreign nationals residing in Kurdistan has said that “Because of the adjacency with Iraq, some Kurdish women marry men from that country but they run into many problems because their marriages are not registered.”

Speaking to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency on July 22, Moslem Kazemi listed these “consequences” to be: not having the national identity card for their children, not having the official refugee or residency status, and depriving the children of such services as education. He sternly added, “Residency permits would not be issued to non-Iranian men who marry an Iranian woman.”

Because of the cultural and social affinity of Iranian Kurds with Kurds from neighboring Iraq, relations between Kurds have flourished across borders. These grass root relations have expanded in recent years on both sides of the border because of the waves of immigrations originating on either side.

But Kazemi also points to another problem. He says in addition to marrying Iraqi men, Iranian Kurdish women have started marrying men from Holland, Denmark, Turkey and other European countries. He warns, “If an Iranian woman intends to marry a foreign man, she needs to get the approval from his office.”

He also called on the Iranian media, clerics and Friday imams to speak about this issue in an enlightening manner to “prevent failed marriages of Iranian women with foreign men.”

The Right To Work Only In Specific Fields

On July 22, Iran’s first vice-president Ishaq Jahangiri signed a circular which bans foreigners from work in the country and requested the ministry of labor to report the violators to proper authorities.

Jahangiri specifically singled out Afghan immigrants in Iran and said, “According to official statistics some two million Afghan nationals in Iran constitute about ten percent of the country’s labor force. But what has created a problem in Iran’s labor market he said is work without permits.

At the same time, Hadi Abavi, a member of the center for labor associations in Iran (Kanoon Alie Anjomanhaye Senfie Kargaran Iran) told Mehr news agency, “Work held by foreigners takes away work opportunities for Iranians.”

Afghan workers are spread throughout Iran and constitute less expensive labor who are given jobs because they lack proper residency documents.

This government officials also said, “Foreign labor has for many years been present in Iran’s job market and in some provinces such as Khorasan, the number of Afghans is high. They have children and today their children too have reached the legal age to work.”

Iran’s minister of labor also has spoken on the subject and quoting a directive of the supreme national Security Council recently said, “Foreign nationals residing in Iran can only work in designated geographic areas and in fields that have been pre-determined by the ministry of labor.”

Earlier, Issa Mousavinasab, the director general of Tehran province’s office of foreigners and immigrants had asked employers to refrain hiring people without proper visas or work permits.

The situation of Afghan workers has in recent months been criticized by some senior clerics as well. Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini, for example, who is a member of the State Expediency on Leadership Council has met labor groups in Ghom and has said, “Injustice towards Afghan and other foreign workers residing in Iran is not right,” adding that officials needed to find ways so that Afghan workers too could get their basic needs met.