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In this picture taken on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Balochi girls, Maryam, 31 (right) and her sister, Behnaz Seyyed Mohammad khani, 29, are standing to take portrait in their mother's room in Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, East of Iran. Their parents are Iranians. Their father did not have a birth certificate (ID card) therefore no birth certificate (ID card) was issued to his children. Maryam, with a monthly salary of 15 Dollars, is forced to work in a drapery shop in Sarbisheh city to provide her living expenses. They haven't been able to get married since they have no identity documents. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Balouchi girl, Atena Dah Mardeh, 8, is sitting among her classmates inside her classrooml in Kondrood village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. She is the only student in her class who does not have a birth certificate (ID card).Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Balouchi woman, Aliyeh Dah Mardeh, 22, is standing to take a portrait, while hugging her baby Mohanna in her room in Kondrood village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. She has two children who have not birth certificate (ID card) since her husband didn’t have identification card and their marriage was not registered. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. Fatemeh Ahmadi Tabaar, 14, is standing to take portrait in front of the curtain of front door of their house in Mahirood village, on the outskirts od Dorh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. Despite the fact that her parents have birth certificate (ID card), they have not been given birth certificates for their two children because of poverty and living in remote rural areas. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Balouchi woman, Khan Bibi Dah Mardeh, 37, with her children Sahemeh, 7, (right) and Adieh Nohtani, 5, (left) are standing to take a portrait in middle of their room in Kondrood village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. Her marriage was not registered due to lack of her husband's birth certificate (ID card). Her husband has left her two years ago and married another woman. She does not receive any custody from her husband and works for her life in agricultural land at a lower wage than men's wages. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Fatemeh Khosravi, 61, is standing to take portrait with her daughter Zahra Kolangi, 18, (the first from up left) and 7-year-old twin sisters Naghmeh (down left) and Najmeh in their room in Salm Abad village, near the city of Sarbisheh, Southern Khorasan province, East of Iran. After divorcing her husband, Fatemeh married an Afghan man and her four children do not have birth certificate (ID card). Zahra, her eldest daughter, says: "We cannot get out of the city of Sarbisheh, only once we took a single vacation and went to Mashhad for pilgrimage. Both my classmates and my little sisters are irritating us for not having a birth certificate (ID card), and they call us Afghani. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Balouchi boy, Aziz Dah Mardeh, 7, is standing to take a portrait, while a piece of bread is in his hand in the School of Kondrood village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. He and his two other brothers don’t have identity cards. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Balouchi boy, Armin Dah Mardeh, 8, is standing in his school classroom to take a portrait in Kondrood village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. He and his other brother must receive a copy of the Code of Civil Procedure from the Office of the Registrar for not having a birth certificate (ID card) each year before enrolling in the school. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Balouchi child, Aria Dah Mardeh, 2, is sitting on his plastic horse at home in Kondrood village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. Aria's father does not have a birth certificate (ID card) and is imprisoned for carrying narcotics. Aria and his two other brothers don’t have identity cards. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Fatemeh Dah Mardeh, 60, and her daughter Zahra Mahmudi, 26, are standing to take portrait in the room of their house in Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, East of Iran. She has 5 children. Because of marrying an Afghan man, none of her children has a birth certificate (ID card). Fatemeh says about her marriage as follow: "When I was married to a man, I was not informed about marriage. I was mudding and creating a statue and a doll (a local game) with children in the alley of our village in Sistan. When my family sold me to only 20 Rials, to a 50-year-old man". Her last child, Zahra, also said, "I could not study and stay illiterate due to not having birth certificate. I was nursing my father and mother. I cannot get married. No one is willing to have a wedding with a girl who does not have a birth certificate (ID card). Some people call me Iranian and some Afghans and it hurts me". Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. Balochi girls, Behnaz Seyyed Mohammad khani, 29, are standing in front of the wall decorated with heart shapes, to take portrait in their mother's room in Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, East of Iran. Behnaz also cleans the bean in the house to provide her mother's life expenses. She hasn't been able to get married since she has no identity document. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Monday, Dec. 17, 2018. Baloch woman, Bibi Jan Rakhshani, 65, is standing in front of the entrance curtain of their room to take a portrait photo in her home in Nazdasht village on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. She has 9 children and their marriage has not been registered due to the lack of a birth certificate. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Marriage certificate of an Iranian woman Zeinab Kurdi with an Afghan man Ahmad Taheri is seen on the ground of a room in Nazdasht village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. Zeynab is the second wife of the Afghan man living in Birjand with his first wife. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Zaynab Kurdi, 48, is standing in her room to take portrait in Nazdasht village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. Zeynab is the second wife of the Afghan man living in Birjand with his first wife. Zeynab has a child and her husband left her after giving birth, 22 years ago and did not even divorce her. Her son does not have a birth certificate (ID card). Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Ali Taheri, 24, stands to take portrait in front of the window of his mother's room in Nazdasht village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. Ali is the son of Iranian mother and Afghani father who left them after his birth. Ali is in prison because of carrying 80 kg of opium. He, who is serving 7 years of imprisonment, has returned to his mother's home by taking 1 day off from prison to see his son. His son also does not have his birth certificate (ID card). Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Ali Taheri is sitting next to his wife, Fatemeh Gholami, and embraced his baby Pania. He, who is serving 7 years of imprisonment, has returned to his mother's home by taking 1 day off from prison to see his son. His son also does not have his birth certificate (ID card). Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Newborn Balouchi baby, Mohanna Dah Mardeh is laying on her bed in a room in Kondrood village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. She has not birth certificate (ID card) since her father didn’t have identification card and marriage of her parents was not registered. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Monavar Nekudari, 32, is standing to take portrait in front of the small kitchen on the corner of her mother's room in Eskivang village on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, East of Iran. Her husband was an Afghan man who was imprisoned for drug addiction and carrying heroin. Due to the lack of official registration of their marriage, Monavar has failed to get divorced and cannot be covered by the Relief Committee of Imam Khomeini. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Elmira Roka, 6, is standing to take portrait in her grandma's home in Eskivang village on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, East of Iran. Her mother is Iranian and her father is Afghan. She does not have a birth certificate (ID card). Her mother has repeatedly tried for her birth certificate (ID card) and has not been able to receive it. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Monday, Dec. 17, 2018. Shirin Shirzadeh, 22, is standing to take her portrait in her aunt's home in Nazdasht village on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. Her father is Afghan and her Iranian mother died due to earthquake in the Bam city. She doesn’t have birth certificate (ID card) and lives with her grandmother and aunt at their home. Shirin is working seasonally on pistachio and saffron fields to survive. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Monday, Dec. 17, 2018. Najmeh Niyabi, 30, is standing at his parental home next to a tree in Neyyab village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. She's having her child's documents of getting ID card. She is addicted to drugs, her husband was Afghan, and left her after their son's birth. He has taken the needed steps to get her child's birth certificate (ID card) since a few months ago. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Monday, Dec. 17, 2018. Ali Dah Mardeh, 7, is standing to take portrait in her grandmother's room in Neyyab village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province. His father was an Afghan and left them after his birth. Due to the severe poverty of her mother, Ali is wearing a feminine jacket that their neighbor had given him in order to save him from cold. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. ID card of the father of one of the children without ID card who is in Zabul prison for carrying heroin. He was originally from Afghanistan but after years of living in Iran, he acquired his citizenship. Some Afghan nationals living in villages in the Sarbisheh region hide their true identities and identify themselves as Iranians. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
In this picture taken on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2018. Balouchi girl Elnaz Dah Mardeh, 6, stands beside the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran, at the entrance to her classroom in Kondrood village, on the outskirts of Sarbisheh city, Southern Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan. Neither she nor her older sister has ID card. Photo/Ali Hamed Haghdoust.
Life In The Shade
Stories
Ali Hamed Haghdoust
Sarbisheh, South Khorasan province, near the border between Iran and Afghanistan - 2018.The more you get far from the central and big cities of Iran, you can see the culture of patriarchy more than anywhere else. In the meantime, women living in Iran's remote villages and towns are the main victims of this ancient culture. They are subject to the decisions and orders of their father at any age until the marriage, and after the marriage a decision is made by another man who is her husband. Iranian women in Iran over the past years have been subject to certain rules and conditions that are rooted in the culture of patriarchy, and now, although this culture is fading with the spread of technology, changing lifestyles and urbanization, and raising the level of women's literacy, Women in some villages in Iran are still the victims of this culture and attitude.
But the story of these pictures goes back on for years, when many Afghans migrated to Iran due to internal conflicts in Afghanistan. Despite the return of many Afghans to their country, about four million Afghan people live in different parts of Iran. Afghan immigrants have been accepted into Iranian society for religious and linguistic reasons, and they are marrying Iranian girls. These marriages are observed in the cities and regions of the east of the country in areas such as Sistan and Baluchestan, Khorasan Razavi and South Khorasan, Yazd and some southern parts of the province of Kerman and Tehran more than other parts of the country. According to official statistics released by Mohammad Ali Salehi, Cultural Deputy of the National Iranian Ministry of Interiors, since 1358 SH, 23181 Iranian women have married to Iraqi and Afghan men.
If we cite informal statistics, this will be even more. These women, before marrying and choosing their couple, are affected by factors such as poverty and proximity to the border areas of Afghanistan, due to several factors such as the compulsion of their poor parents to reduce the number of their dependent children and reduce their expenses. Marriage, which begins with a legal contract, but not in the office, nor even in the birth certificate (ID card). But this is not the whole issue, because the problem arises when the children of these couples are born. Since these marriages have not been officially registered, these children will not be able to apply for and receive identity papers until the age of 18, and will face a number of identity and educational crises in the future. These children exist in reality, but they are not registered anywhere. In the meantime, Baluchi children without birth certificates are no exception. However, in the past, these children could not study, but with the order of the leader of the Islamic Revolution, seventy-five thousand Afghan children who did not have identity papers enrolled in schools and are studying nowadays.
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